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To me, the most important information on my padlet are:

The ASCA's code of ethics

FERPA

HIPAA

Administration Code

Educational Code

and my school district's Staff Handbook.

To me, these are the most important because they are the rules by which I must operate in order to be the most effective and informed school counselor, especially where confidentiality is concerned.

these items together

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Personal Connection to the Legal and Ethical Standards 

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Personal Connection to the Legal and Ethical Standards 

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Even though I have been an educator for eleven years now, FERPA was not a strong suit of mine as my background was more so in HIPAA. Prior to this course, I did not know how to make the connections between federal, and state laws or even where to find codes of ethics for professions that were not in the Athletic Training realm. After this assignment, I can say I feel more confident in my abilities to be able to find federal and state laws as well as where to locate a school counselor's code of ethics and how they are all applied.

With this project and others that we have gone through, I feel like I have a better practical knowledge of how each each of the different levels of laws work together for the whole. I also feel as if I have the ability to be a more effective educator and one-day school counselor because I am better prepared on the legal side, which is important in being able to protect yourself and your students. Having at least a basic knowledge of the laws will also help me better advise my students and parents on what their rights are especially where confidentiality is concerned.

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What is right and wrong is the corner stone of Ethics. What is the Ethical Code for School Counselors?

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Throughout each of these padelets there has been the recurring theme that confidentiality is of the utmost paramount for a school counselor to maintain. However, what do you do when a student confides in you on matters such as suicidal idelization or abuse they are undergoing?

In the Code of Ethics laid out by the ASCA while every attempt should be made to try and obtain informed consent, it is recognized that sometimes school counselors will have to make decisions for the student, based on the overall welfare of the student.

Sometimes as a school counselor, you will need to make the hard decision to break confidentiality, without the student's consent, ultimately it is in the best interest in the child due to imminent danger. When this situation arises it is important that as long as the counselor is acting in good faith and with just cause they are protected by the ASCA's code of ethics as well as state and federal laws.

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What steps can be taken to mitigate the risks 

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The University of Delaware has suggested when trying to manage confidentiality that these are some areas that should be considered:

Avoid acquiring sensitive data unless absolutely necessary.

Securely Dispose of data, devices, and paper records

Manage data access

Encrypt sensitive files

Physically secure devices and paper documentation.

As a school counselor, there will be times when we are given personal information in confidentiality by our students. Our ability to protect their confidentiality within the scope of our licenses as well as being mindful that we are also mandatory reporters. While our documentation is important for us it is also important to remember that our notes should be brief and non discript as they are also able to be requested by the parent, judge, or soubpinad by lawyers. Keeping our notes brief and non discript helps to protect the confadentiality of our students.

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The local policy listed is for Coleman ISD and might very from district to district. 

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Coleman ISD, 2024, Staff Employee Handbook Standard 3.1 states "The educator shall not reveal confidential information concerning students unless disclosure serves lawful professional purposes or is required by law." Coleman ISD's stand on confidentiality is a direct reflection not only of their acceptance of the state's laws but the Federal as well.

In Coleman's addition of this to their employee handbook it

provides limited protection for in the event a breach does occur.

Gives them legal grounds to terminate an employee for a breach of Ethics.

The School counselor is the only one in the han2dbook who should be handling student records and is the only one parents or students should be directed to

They furthermore continue on to say that "the employee continues to be subject to applicable state and federal laws, local policies, administrative regulations, and the Texas Educators' Code of Ethics.." further strengthening there position that breaks in foncadentiality are soley on the indavidual and not of the entity as a whole.

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Family Educational and Privacy Rights, 20 U.S.C. 1232g lays out the conditions in which Federal funds will be distributed to the states for dispersal among the public school system. It is within this mandate, that the topic of confidentiality is laid out. The ramifications for what happens if the mandate is not followed.

No funding for any educational agency that denies access to parents of students, access to their child's educational records

The release of Educational records requires Parental Consent. Unless ordered by subpoena, or judicial order.

If a student is 18 years of age or is attending a post-secondary educational institution, only the student's permission is needed.

If a school acts in good faith in producing documents upon request/consent they will not be held liable for the production.

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Case law is where a judicial precedence has been set based on court ruling and not legislation. 

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Eisel v. Board of Education, 1991 is a wrongful death suit and survivor action out of Maryland when a School Counselor failed to break confidentiality when she was alerted to a thirteen-year-old student's suicidal ideation. The counselor's failure to break confidentiality at that moment led to not only that student's death but also another as the student had a murder-suicide packet with a student from a different campus.

Established the basis that school districts can be held accountable for a student's suicide.

Triggered schools to put Suicide Prevention curriculum in place

Schools began to create plans for Suicide Intervention.

However, given that this was a State court case and not a federal court case and some states do not have the same laws it has allotted some schools to have gray areas that allow them to hide from state, Common-Law, prosecution by means of government immunity from common-law. Thus leaving them open and exposed for a Constitutional tort.

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In this padlet we will be looking at the Statue and Administrative law. 

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191, S. 264, was written to protect and regulate the healthcare industry and protect its users.

Created standards for information transactions and data sharing. This is what protects your confidentiality.

Creates penalties for failure to comply

Wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information

Establishes how HIPPA affects state law

Payment processing

Health and Safety Code 611.002 further protects individuals' confidentiality rights by

Confidentiality of information and prohibition against disclosure

Clarifies persons who may claim the privilege of confidentiality

Claifiys who is authorized to disclose confidential information other than in judicial or administrative proceedings.

Rights to mental health records

Legal remedies for important disclosure or failure to disclose.

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In this Padlet we will take a look at Federal and State Constitutional laws that align with Confidentiality in the field of School Counseling. 

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At the Federal level within the constitution the 14th Amendment states

"No State shall make or enforce any law that which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution helps us to guarantee that no state shall create laws that infringe on the rights of the people. It is because of this that we see how the Dpt of Education was able to write laws designed to protect a student's and parent's rights to confidentiality.

The Texas Constitution furthermore states in Tex Const. art. 1, §29

" To guard against transgressions of the high powers, herein delegated, we declare that everything in this "Bill of Rights' Is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and all laws contrary thereto..."

The 29th section of the 1st article of the Texas Consitution is the state declaration and acceptance of the Bill of Rights of the United States. It is these in conjunction with the Bill of Rights that an individual's right to simple things like confidentiality. It also protects these same rights from being infringed upon by the states.

It is the laws and amendments that are written in our nation's constitution that grant us our inalienable rights and help to prevent the infringement of the government on these rights. Any rights that are not expressly given to the Federal Government by the constitution are then granted to the States which is how the state of Texas is able to have its own administrative, educational, and Health/Human services laws that add and enhance the federal laws, including the ones that govern confidentiality

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There are governing bodies overseeing confidentiality at both the Federal and State levels. In this post, we will at look these. 

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At the Federal level, The U.S. Dpt. of Education oversees the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), it is this act that protects students' privacy within a school setting while also allowing parents to have rights to their student's educational records. The Office of the Chief Privacy Officer of the U.S. Dpt of Education is the office that handles any complaints. If a complaint is found to be credible it can cause the district to lose federal funding as well as eligibility to receive additional funding under any other program the Dpt. of Education has.

At the State level, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has created Educational codes that expand on FERPA to protect the confidentiality of Texas students while helping to protect parental rights. Texas Education Codee 26.004 (b) “A parent is entitled to

access to all written records of a school district concerning the parent's child”. This effectively ensures that if a parent places a written request for their student's records the school is obliged to release them to him/her.

Based on this information it is clear that confidentiality is of the utmost importance, and that in Texas, a parent has the right to request access to their minor child's records, but does this include school counselors' records? The answer to this is yes and no. Acording to the Health and Safety Code 611.001(2) if the school counselor deems that the release of their documentation of their sessions with the student could lead to harm of the student's physical, mental, or emotional health the documentation can then be withheld.

It is due to the nature of the need for confidentiality between the school counselor and the student that the school counselor should keep brief, non-disclosure, notes thus if a parent requests the counselor's documentation, a subpoena is issued, or a judge requests it the school counselor can maintain and protect the student's confidentiality as much as possible. If a school counselor intentionally breaks a student's confidentiality he/she is liable to face consequences ranging from a misdemeanor, ethics violations, and/or disciplinary action against their license which could be as much as revocation of their credentials.

Through the study of the laws that surround confidentiality, it has helped to put into perspective as well as connect a few missing pieces in how a school councler is to follow FERPA, State laws, as well as the Health and Safety Code. While I have some experience with HIPAA already the laws around the educational field have been a bit of a mystery to me as I have no traditional training (I was emergency certification program) in educational laws or the application thereof. This study has helped me to understand an area of confusion I had, in my first year of education, when I was haveing another Athletic Trainer request records for an athlete but I had only been taught about HIPAA laws and not about FERPA while studying for my undergrad. This created a small hiccup that could have been avoided had I had a course similar to this for my undergrad.

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As a School Counselor earning and keeping our student's trust is a vital component within our profession. While there are times when school counselors are allowed to legally break confidentiality these are few and far between. They include when a student is threatening harm to themselves or others, the child is being harmed, the parent has submitted a request for school counselor records, or the counselor has been subpoenaed by the courts for their records. In fact, a student's right to confidentiality is protected by both HIPAA and FERPA. The purpose of this padlet is to help guide future school counselors through the legal aspects of Confidentiality as well as the legal ramifications if confidentiality is broken outside of the appropriate ways. I have chosen to discuss this topic because it is all to easy, especially when you are new in the profession, to not only be unaware of the laws but also to develop habits of venting or discussing issues that students have brought up in confidence and thus setting them up for legal ramifications.