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My professional perspective of school counselors has always viewed them as an extremely vital piece in the overall success of their campus. Counselors play a crucial role in supporting students' emotional and behavioral growth, as well as overseeing their academic progress and preparing them for post-secondary education or employment opportunities. My experience and knowledge that I have gained from my time at ASU has only further solidified my opinion on how important they are to so many in the school environment. This is a resource for school counselor's to use as a reference when looking for a range of things such as answers on how to handle a certain situation they may find themselves in, or locating laws and regulations related to confidentiality for school counselors.
I chose this topic because Confidentiality is the cornerstone of the school counseling profession (Williams, 2009).

Williams, R. (2009, September 1). Confidentiality vs. Principal Relationships - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). www.schoolcounselor.org. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Magazines/September-October-2009/Confidentiality-vs-Principal-Relationships

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School counselors face numerous legal and ethical issues, particularly regarding confidentiality. Confidentiality rights of minors and parents are often confusing. This paper aims to clarify the meaning and necessity of confidentiality, address informed consent practices, rights of minors, parents, and third parties, record-keeping procedures, information response, and limitations of confidentiality. It also addresses record-keeping procedures and information demands.

An issue to keep an eye on is our students are experiencing an increasing severity and prevalence of mental health challenges that range from self-harm and disordered eating to underdeveloped social and emotional regulation skills (Bray, 2022). Students aren't as resilient as they used to be, and for some, this means turning to unhealthy ways of dealing, like hurting themselves. It can be hard and stressful for some students at home, so school is a safe place for them. They lost that when schools moved to at-home learning during the pandemic, and many are still trying to recover from that period of time when faced with many challenges they could not escape.

Bray, B. (2022, July 25). Responding to the youth mental health crisis in schools. Counseling Today. https://ct.counseling.org/2022/07/responding-to-the-youth-mental-health-crisis-in-schools/.

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One of the most challenging ethical dilemmas faced by professional school counselors pertains to determining the appropriate circumstances to breach confidentiality. The resolution of this professional dilemma is not readily attainable through a mere examination of the ethical guidelines outlined by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) or the American Counseling Association (ACA), nor is it distinctly delineated by an extensive analysis of the existing scholarly literature. There appears to be a divergence of opinions among specialists regarding this consequential ethical matter.

Williams, R. (2007, September 1). To Tell or Not to Tell: The Question of Informed Consent - American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Www.schoolcounselor.org. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Magazines/September-October-2007/To-Tell-or-Not-to-Tell-The-Question-of-Informed-Co

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To Tell or Not to Tell: The Question of Informed Consent

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Informed consent can be presented at many levels and in many ways. For parents, informed consent can be printed in the student handbook. This notification can delineate the role of the school counselor, while also explaining the process of counseling.

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What do Parents' Rights' Mean Legally for Schools, Anyway?

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What do Parents' Rights' Mean Legally for Schools, Anyway?

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Conservative efforts to limit school discussions on race and LGBTQ rights are driving the parental rights movement.

People should participate in decision-making at schools, which anchor communities.

Because schools have always had values-based conflicts, libertarian McCluskey believes the debate over public school issues and parental rights will not improve.

Georgetown Law Professor Shulman warns that the Meyer-Pierce formulation of parental rights in education is limited, and a proposed constitutional amendment could trigger strict scrutiny, potentially leading to more parental school rulings.

The speaker, despite over a century of Supreme Court case law supporting parental rights, believes a constitutional amendment is still desirable.

'parental rights' often refer to the belief that parents are excluded from school decisions.

Walsh, M. (2022, October 20). What Do “Parents” Rights’ Mean Legally for Schools, Anyway?. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/what-do-parents-rights-mean-legally-for-schools-anyway/2022/10

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The issue of parents' rights is among the most heated in public education, invoked in political campaigns and debates over everything from COVID policy and curriculum choices to classroom discussions about race, gender, and sexuality.

Most recently, the principle has been a potent rallying cry for conservative activists and politicians, including Virginia's Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in his winning gubernatorial campaign. But the concept is tangled in more than a century of legal wrangling, court precedents, federal and state statutes, and rhetoric over what it actually means, especially in education.

"People who invoke the term 'parental rights' have different things in mind and different aspirations," said Neal McCluskey, the director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. "My general impression when I see people invoking 'parental rights,' it's been connected to a general idea that parents have been cut out of decisions made by schools."

Jeffrey Shulman, a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center and the author of several law journal articles on parental rights, said he agrees the term "is thrown about loosely" and could refer to rights under the U.S. Constitution, under federal statutes, under state constitutions or state statutes, or even school board regulations.

"Generally speaking, when parents use the term in the heat of battle, they are pretty much calling upon some amorphous, free-floating right," Shulman said.

The arguments advanced by some conservative parents today reflect a longstanding and deep-seated fear, he said, "that our system of public education indoctrinates children in a left-wing ideological agenda; that public schools alienate children from their families and cultures, thereby undermining parental authority; [and] that, basically, the goal of public education is to enlist children on the wrong side of our current culture wars."

"These arguments should not be dismissed out of hand," Shulman added. "But much of what we're seeing in the news is outright hostility to any form of common education."

Moms for Liberty advocate sees at least some common ground

That's certainly not how some parental-rights advocates on the conservative side view things.

Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of the group Moms for Liberty, which has grown quickly as a major voice for parental rights since being founded last year, is quick to point out that she served on her local school board, in Florida's Indian River County. The mother of four school-aged children worked on such mundane issues as school start times. (She tried to make them later.)

"We support public education," said Justice. "But we have an education system that is failing parents."

Moms for Liberty was formed in early 2021 in Florida and now has nearly 250 chapters in 42 states. The group pushed for parental rights statutes passed in the state in 2021 and 2022.

The 2022 law, called the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, prohibits classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in K-3 classrooms, and requires such conversations after 3rd grade to be age-appropriate, which the state board of education has yet to define. The measure has been derided by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" law and has been challenged in court.

The measure, which built on a 2021 state law called the Florida Parents' Bill of Rights, also requires that parents be notified about health-care services offered at the child's school, with the right to decline any service offered. And the law requires parental approval for questionnaires or health screenings given to K-3 students.

Florida's recent laws address "the audacity of the teachers and some bureaucrats to think they know better" than parents what is best for students, Justice said.

Justice now travels the country speaking in favor of similar legislation. Some 26 states are considering legislation this year that would expand parental rights in education, according to FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

Justice pushed back at the idea that her group is responsible for sowing division in public schools.

"I think we have much more in common with most parents than people think," she said.

Conservatives would bolster Supreme Court precedents with a constitutional amendment

Conservative lawmakers have proposed parents-rights amendments to the U.S. Constitution, so far with little success, for years. The most recent one introduced by Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., would establish that "the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children is a fundamental right." The amendment further says the parental right to direct a child's education includes the right to choose public, private, religious, or home schools, and "the right to make reasonable choices within public school's for one's child."

Similar measures have been introduced in seven previous sessions of Congress. Coming so late in the current session, Lesko's resolution is unlikely to be adopted before a new Congress begins.

"We're kind of setting this up for the next Congress," said William Estrada, the president of the Purcellville, Va.-based Parental Rights Foundation, which grew out of the home schooling movement and makes the amendment a major goal.

Estrada is well aware of roughly a century of U.S. Supreme Court case law supporting parents' right to direct the upbringing of their children. But he and other amendment proponents say such a change to the Constitution is still desirable.

"We're very grateful for the 100-year line of unbroken Supreme Court precedent," he said. "But this is something that is so important that it needs to be in the black and white of the U.S. Constitution."

The line of jurisprudence, while longstanding, has left gray areas Estrada and other advocates are uncomfortable with.

In 1923, in Meyer v. Nebraska, the high court struck down a Nebraska law barring the teaching of a foreign language through 8th grade or any instruction conducted in a foreign language because it interfered with parents' right to "control the education of their own." Two years later, in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the justices struck down an Oregon law mandating public school attendance and thus precluding enrollment in parochial schools.

In Pierce, the court said the "liberty of parents and guardians" includes the right "to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control." The court said the "child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."

In 2000, in the case of Troxel v. Granville, the Supreme Court considered parental rights in the context of a Washington state law that gave grandparents and certain others stronger rights to petition family courts for visitation rights with a child. In a fractured opinion, the court limited the application of that statute; a majority of the court nonetheless reaffirmed the right of parents to direct their children's upbringing.

Still, the decision rang alarm bells among some conservatives and parental rights advocates, in part because of a dissent by Justice Antonin Scalia that raised doubts about whether Meyer, Pierce, and another decision, Wisconsin v. Yoder, which in 1972 recognized Amish parents' right to end their children's schooling after 8th grade, deserved respect as precedents.

Scalia suggested parents' right to control their children's upbringing was an "unenumerated right" that was not the province of the judiciary to enforce. As Scalia described it to a law school audience in 2015, such a parental right is "simply not in the Constitution."

Despite the nominal reaffirmance of parental rights in Troxel, Scalia's dissent and his powers of persuasion instilled concern among parental rights advocates that the long line of Supreme Court decisions might face reassessment, Estrada said.

"The good news is that in the 23 years since the decision, those fears have by and large not come to pass," he said.

But Estrada also points to several federal appeals court decisions over the last 15 to 20 years that he views as giving short shrift to parental rights in education as recognized in Meyer and Pierce and stresses that a constitutional amendment would give parents the right to make "reasonable choices" for their children in public schools.

Rulings on parents and school curriculum add to debate

Shulman, of Georgetown Law, said that the Meyer- Pierce formulation of parental rights in education is "really quite limited," and by itself does not mean that courts address alleged violations of such rights with the highest level of constitutional scrutiny, known as strict scrutiny.

The proposed constitutional amendment's casting of parental rights as fundamental would trigger strict scrutiny, he said. That could result in more court rulings for parents over schools.

"Still, there is no parental right to say I don't want my child to be taught this or that," he said, referring to lower court opinions that have ruled against parents seeking such broad influence over a school's curriculum.

Jack Schneider, an associate professor of education at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, recalled co-writing an opinion essay in The Washington Post last year emphasizing that idea that parents may not dictate the curricular choices of public schools that expose children to ideas with which the parents may disapprove.

That idea, coupled with an aggressive headline, cluttered up his inbox for days.

"The amount of hate mail that generated ... holy cow!," he said. "People aren't interested in being told they don't have rights. That is a losing argument."

The current movement in support of parental rights is motivated by various goals, including social, religious, and political ones that are tied up with conservatives' aims of limiting discussions of race, LGBTQ rights, or other controversial topics in schools, he said.

"You are working against decades of rhetoric where nobody is talking about schools as anchors of communities, as places that return all kinds of value to communities and states and the nation," said Schneider.

"It is a lot harder to tell people the reason we pay for public schools with our tax dollars is we all benefit from them and so we ought to all be included in the decisionmaking process," he said.

McCluskey, the libertarian from the Cato Institute, is not sure that the debate around public school issues and parental rights is likely to turn more harmonious anytime soon.

"It used to be people were in school districts that were very homogenous," he said. "So it seems we have a lot more of these conflicts than we used to. But public schools have faced this kind of values-based conflict constantly."

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What Do 'Parents' Rights' Mean Legally for Schools, Anyway?

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Conservatives rely on century-old U.S. Supreme Court precedents but want to bolster parental rights with a constitutional amendment.

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- Texas school counselors and chaplains are facing criticism over a new law that allows chaplains to serve as students' first point of contact for mental health services
- School counselors are trained in child development, counseling skills, and mental health support
- Chaplains lack certification to support student mental health needs
- Chaplains are also not trained in academic areas, such as graduation, college, and continuing education advice

Zeeble, B. (2023, August 23). More than 100 school chaplains oppose new law allowing them to serve as counselors. KERA News. https://www.keranews.org/education/2023-08-23/texas-chaplains-oppose-new-school-law

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More than 100 Texas chaplains have signed onto a letter protesting a new state law that allows them to serve as counselors in public schools.

The letter released Tuesday urges school board members to reject the public school chaplain program, calling it "that the harmful to our public schools and the students and families they serve."

Under Senate Bill 763, school boards have to vote whether to bring in hired or volunteer chaplains to "provide support, services, and programs for students."

Several groups organized the letter, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance and Texas Impact.

"We are troubled by SB 763 because religious instruction should be left to our houses of worship and religious institutions, not to our government," said Reverend Jennifer Hawks, ordained Baptist minister and Associate General Counsel with the BJC.

Texas school counselors are troubled too.

Jill Adams, a 16-year school counselor, is president of the Texas School Counselor Association. She said with training in child development, counseling skills, and mental health support, "school counselors are equipped, trained and certified to do just that for students.

"Texas chaplains do not have any credential or certification that would give them the ability to say they're qualified to support student mental health needs."

Sheri Allen is a chaplain and Jewish Cantor at Makom Shelanu Congregation in Fort Worth and one of the signatories of the letter.

"As a chaplain myself," Allen said, "I oppose school districts employing chaplains in place of licensed school counselors. We are not qualified to do that kind of work. Under this new law, school districts could allow chaplains to serve as a student's first point of contact for mental health, suicide prevention and other behavioral health services.

"Chaplains aren't trained to do that at all."

Allen added chaplains lack training in other academic areas as well, including graduation, college and continuing education advice and information.

"As chaplains, we are trained to provide spiritual and emotional support to people that ask for it," she said.

In the case of children, she said they're too young to give consent - that's another problem she has with the new law.

For Allen, context matters. She said a chaplain in the appropriate setting is fine. But a school doesn't provide that.

"Take for instance a kid who might be LGBTQ and not out to their parents," Allen said. "Their parents say, 'I want you to talk to this counselor.' I mean, how are they going to feel safe to talk to a chaplain who might not approve of who they are? They might even do major damage."

Neither state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, who authored the bill, nor state Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mt. Pleasant, who wrote the House version, responded to KERA's request for comment by deadline.

While the law starts Sept. 1, school board members would have to approve the move with a vote before March 2024.

Jill Adams with the Texas School Counselor Association said no school district had contacted her office expressing interest in adding a chaplain.

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More than 100 school chaplains oppose new law allowing them to serve as counselors

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A new Texas law going into effect Sept. 1 could put chaplains in public schools as counselors.

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American School Counselor Association.

(2022). Ethical standards for school counselors. Alexandria,      VA: Author.

Source of Law - ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/44f30280-ffe8-

4b41-9ad8-f15909c3d164/EthicalStandards.pdf

School counselors must adhere to ethical standards and legal mandates regarding confidentiality, including

informed consent and understanding the limits of confidentiality. They must balance their ethical obligation with parents’ rights to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives. They should protect student records and release of personal data per federal, state, and local laws.

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Parental Rights and Access to Student Records

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Parental Rights and Access to Student Records

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2 Tex. Educ. Code § 26.004 (2019).

Source of Law - Texas Statutes Education Code

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.26.htm

Parents have access to all written records of a school district, including attendance, test scores, grades,

disciplinary, counseling, psychological, admission, health, immunization, teacher evaluations, behavioral patterns, and learning assistance records.

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EDUCATION CODE CHAPTER 26. PARENTAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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EDUCATION CODE TITLE 2. PUBLIC EDUCATION SUBTITLE E. STUDENTS AND PARENTS CHAPTER 26. PARENTAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Sec. 26.001. PURPOSE. (a) Parents are partners with educators, administrators, and school district boards of trustees in their children's education. Parents shall be encouraged to actively participate in creating and implementing educational programs for their children.

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Student Welfare: Child Abuse and Neglect - Bryan ISD Board Policy

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Student Welfare: Child Abuse and Neglect - Bryan ISD Board Policy

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Policy Code FFG – Student Welfare: Child

Abuse and Neglect – Bryan ISD Board Policy Manual - Policy Online. (n.d.). Pol.tasb.org. https://pol.tasb.org/PolicyOnline/PolicyDetails?

key=225&code=FFG#legalTabContent

The identity of the person making a report on neglect is confidential and not subject to release, disclosure is only for purposes consistent with the Family Code, state or law, or as ordered by the courts.

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ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

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ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

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A. 2a. Promote awareness of school counselors’ ethical standards and legal mandates regarding confidentiality and the appropriate rationale and procedures for disclosure of student data and information to school staff.

American School Counselor Association. (2022). Ethical standards for school counselors. Alexandria, VA: Author.
https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/44f30280-ffe8-4b41-9ad8-f15909c3d164/EthicalStandards.pdf

The goal is to raise awareness about the ethical standards and legal mandates of school counselors, as well as the appropriate procedures for disclosing student data to school staff.

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Home - Texas School Counselor Association. (2010, December 10). Tsca.txca.org. https://tsca.txca.org/

https://www.tcta.org/legal-updates/counselors-making-the-right-call

This article examines the significance of school counselors in the state of Texas with respect to upholding the confidentiality of student records and information. This statement underscores the significance of exercising prudence in decision-making processes and highlights the crucial role of posing appropriate inquiries and utilizing accessible resources in safeguarding the confidentiality of student records.

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School counselors and other Texas educators are routinely confronted with issues involving the confidentiality of student records and related information. Decisions must be made - especially by school counselors - concerning receipt of, safekeeping and distribution of such information.

This article addresses common student confidentiality guidelines that counselors and other educators must carefully observe, as well as certain situations that may present counselors with difficult decisions to make. Unlike a baseball umpire required to make a quick judgment call without benefit of instant replay, counselors should have the opportunity to ask the proper questions, use available resources and ultimately make the "right call" regarding student confidentiality issues.

FERPA

All educators must observe the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA. This federal law requires educators to provide proper parties access to student records and personally identifiable student information, while strictly maintaining their confidential status.

An educational record is defined as information directly related to a student and held by an educational institution or its representative. In many school districts, policy FL [LOCAL] provides a lengthy, but not exhaustive list of such records. Most counselors, teachers and other school employees dealing with student records understand that this information may only be shared with the student and/or parent or legal guardian OR just the student when he/she is 18 years old or older. Educational records may also be shared with another educator with a legitimate
educational interest. Still questions may and do arise.*
*Several years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide if having student work graded in class by fellow students and calling out grades for the teacher to record violated FERPA. In a very common sense and educator-friendly decision, the Court held that such a time-honored practice did not violate FERPA and though not deciding the point, hinted that for purposes of FERPA, this practice may not even involve "student records."
Personally identifiable student information is exactly what it sounds like: any information found in a student's educational record that would make it easy to identify the particular student, e.g., his/her name, parents' names, Social Security or student ID number.

FAQs
Does a grandparent have a right of access to student records?
Only if the grandparent is a properly designated legal guardian or if written permission has been provided by a parent or eligible student.
As a counselor, must I provide educational records and discuss student information with a non-custodial parent?
I received a subpoena requesting student records. What does this entail?
Generally, yes. Custody is not the issue. A parent may be denied access only if his/her rights have been terminated by a court of law or a court order otherwise expressly prohibits access.

Since the wording of the subpoena is crucial, it should be reviewed by an administrator or records custodian prior to releasing any records. Legal counsel may be necessary in many instances to assure proper compliance with the subpoena.

Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 26

Chapter 26 was enacted by the Legislature in 1995 and was intended to promote parents' rights regarding participation in their child's education. TEC Section 26.004 restates FERPA's requirement that school districts must provide parental access to all written records maintained by the district pertaining to their child. Though not exhaustive, the list of such records does specify "counseling records" and "psychological records." This particular provision provides a good segue to another issue that school counselors sometimes face, especially concerning "counseling records."

Troubled students (especially teens) may seek out a counselor (or teacher) as a confidante regarding personal matters. Some counselors may consider this part of their job. After all, the Texas Education Code states that "The primary responsibility of a school counselor is to counsel students to fully develop each student's academic, career, personal and social abilities."

A problem frequently arising involves a minor student's desire for a "confidential" relationship with the school counselor. A student may simply assume that this exists, while at other times the student and the school counselor may believe that such a relationship is possible simply by agreeing to this. The student may then disclose personal matters to the counselor which he/she is not willing to disclose to his/her parents, and which the student believes must remain confidential. A counselor must always be wary of such matters.

In most cases involving situations like this, there is no legal basis for a confidential relationship between the student and counselor. The school counselor will be legally obligated to share information the student has provided with parents upon request, including written records (per TEC Section 26.004). Also and importantly, the counselor must make sure he/she does not, or does not appear to, encourage or coerce the student to withhold any information from parents. TEC Chapter 26 provides that such is grounds for termination of a school district employee's contract.

Any exceptions?

There is a limited exception that applies to the student records discussed in the immediately preceding paragraph. If the records are kept in the sole possession of the counselor, are used only as a memory aid, and are generally accessible only to the counselor (who must also be a Texas-licensed mental health practitioner, e.g., (Licensed Professional Counselor), and the counselor has made a determination that the release of such records would be harmful to the student's physical, mental or emotional health, then and only then, may the records be withheld from parents. Certainly seeking legal counsel would be advisable prior to withholding records under these very limited circumstances.

Finally, Chapter 26 does specifically provide an exception allowing counselors and other educators to withhold information concerning the report of suspected child abuse from parents. Note however that there is no provision that allows an educator to direct or encourage a student to withhold such information from his/her parents.
This article is provided for general information purposes only, and is not intended to replace the advice of an attorney. TCTA members with questions or concerns related to confidentiality of students' records should contact the TCTA Legal Department at 888-879-8282.
Hopefully this brief discussion of some of the issues will assist school counselors in making the correct call regarding student confidentiality issues. Batter Up!

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School counselors and other Texas educators are routinely confronted with issues involving the confidentiality of student records and related information. Decisions must be made - especially by school counselors - concerning receipt of, safekeeping and distribution of such information.

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- Confidentiality is the cornerstone of the school counseling profession.
- Research has shown a significant number of students seek the assistance of a school counselor primarily due to their reliance on the assurance of privacy.
-  it is imperative for school counselors to effectively manage the ethical and legal obligations that arise in their interactions with students, parents, and school staff.
- School counselors possess a profound comprehension of the ramifications associated with breaching confidentiality.
- By engaging in collaborative efforts, school counselors are able to effectively manage the delicate balance between safeguarding students' confidentiality and meeting the expectation of maintaining a conducive educational environment.

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 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) 

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 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) 

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(20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) 34 CFR Part 99

U.S. Department of Education. (2021). Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). U.S. Department of Education, 1.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Federal law protects the confidentiality of student education records as well as personally identifiable information contained in such records. At the same time, federal and state laws guarantee parents access to this information.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act covers federally funded education agencies. FERPA allows district employees with a “legitimate educational interest” to view student records without parental authorization. A district does not need consent to release discipline records for conduct that “posed a significant risk to the safety or well-being of that student, other students, or other members of the school community” for employees with a legitimate educational interest in a student's behavior. District staff must obtain written authorization from parents, guardians, or students before releasing student records. FERPA penalizes lawbreakers. Districts must annually notify parents of FERPA rules regarding student directory information release, including name, address, and phone number. Parents can limit or not provide such information.

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The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students."

Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.

Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

School officials with legitimate educational interest;

Other schools to which a student is transferring;

Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;

Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;

Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;

Accrediting organizations;

To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;

Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and

State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

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policy; privacy; academic records; technical assistance; parent rights; student rights; ferpa

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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

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Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Home Page.

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Judiciary Addresses Cybersecurity Breach: Extra Safeguards to Protect Sensitive Court Records. (2021, January 6). United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2021/01/06/judiciary-addresses-cybersecurity-breach-extra-safeguards-protect-sensitive-court

https://www.uscourts.gov/news/2021/01/06/judiciary-addresses-cybersecurity-breach-extra-safeguards-protect-sensitive-court

Federal courts are implementing new security procedures to protect confidential documents following cybersecurity breaches involving private sector and government computer systems. The Judicial Conference of the United States Secretary of the Judiciary, James C. Duff, emphasized the importance of maintaining public trust in the courts' operations.