Transcript FERPA - MASFAA

FERPA
Family Educational and Privacy
Rights Act
Information Releases Throughout
the Institution
Requirements and Good Practices
Four Basic Rights Under FERPA
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Right to inspect and review education records
Right to seek amendment of education
records if believed to be inaccurate,
misleading or otherwise in violation of the
student’s privacy rights
Right to consent to disclosures of personally
identifiable information, under most
circumstances
Right to file a complaint with ED concerning
alleged failure to comply with FERPA
Who has these rights?
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Eligible students
Students who are 18 years old or older or
are attending an institution of
postsecondary education
Definition of attendance is at the discretion
of the school
Who else has these rights?
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Parents of ineligible students
A parent can be a natural parent, a
guardian, or an individual acting as a
parent in the absence of a parent or
guardian
NOTE: In the case of divorced or
separated parents, either parent is
considered a parent by definition
Limitation on the Right to Inspect
and Review
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School is not required to, but may choose to,
allow a student to inspect and review the
financial records of the parents
Parents do not have the right under FERPA to
either permit or deny release of the record to
the student
Check with school’s legal counsel regarding
any applicable state privacy laws
What are the School’s
Responsibilities?
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Annual notification of FERPA rights
Notification of designated directory
information and procedures for student
to prevent disclosure of directory
information
List of education records
Documentation of students file when
certain disclosures are made
Annual Notification
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To whom? All currently enrolled students
How? By any means that are reasonably likely
to inform students of their rights
What must it include?
Right to inspect and review records and
procedure for exercising that right
Right to seek amendment to records and
procedure for exercising that right
Annual Notification, cont’d
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What must it include?
Right to consent to disclosures of personally
identifiable information contained in
education records, except to the extent that
FERPA allows disclosures without consent
Right to file a complaint with the Department
of Education concerning alleged violations of
FERPA by the institution
Designated Directory
Information
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Must notify students of what information is
designated as directory information
Must also explain the eligible student’s right
to refuse to let the institution disclose
directory information
Must give a period of time within which the
student has to notify the institution in writing
that s/he does not want any of the
information as directory information
List of Education Records
The institution is required to establish a
list of all the educational records it
maintains, where those records are
housed at the institution, and the
procedures by which a student can
review those records.
Documentation of the Student
File When Disclosure is Made
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The institution must maintain a record
of each request for access to and each
disclosure of personally identifiable
information if the disclosure was made
without written consent from the
student unless the request was from, or
disclosure was to:
Documentation of the Student
File when Disclosure is Made
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The student
A school official determined to have a
legitimate interest
A party seeking directory information
A party seeking records as directed by a
law enforcement subpoena
Documentation of the Student
File when Disclosure is Made
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The record of each request or disclosure must
be kept with the education records of the
student for as long as the records are
maintained.
The record must include:
Parties who have requested/received
information
The legitimate interest the parties had in
requesting or obtaining information
Required Consent Before
Disclosure of Information
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Before the school may disclose personally
identifiable information, the student must
generally provide a signed and dated written
consent
The consent must:
Specify what may be disclosed
State the purpose of the disclosure
Identify the party to whom disclosure may be
made
Disclosures without Consent
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Information may be disclosed without the
student’s consent to the following parties:
School officials with legitimate interests
Officials from other schools where the student
seeks or intends to enroll
Authorized representatives of the US
Comptroller General
Authorized representatives of the US Attorney
General
The US Department of Education
Disclosures without Consent
State and local educational authorities
The alleged victim of a crime of violence or
non-forcible sexual offense
The parent of a dependent student as defined
by the IRS
The student
The parent of a student under the age of 21
regarding a student’s violation of laws
governing the use or possession of alcohol or
a controlled substance
Redisclosure of Information
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An institution may only disclose
information on the conditions that:
The party not disclose it further to any
other party without consent of the
student AND
the party who receives the disclosed
information may use it only for the
purpose for which disclosure was made
Redisclosure of Information
Limitations on redisclosure don’t apply, if:
the disclosure concerns a health or safety
emergency
it is directory information that is disclosed
the disclosure is made due to court order or
subpoena
disclosure is made to the student
School must inform the party of the redisclosure
limitations
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Exceptions to FERPA
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Power of Attorney (POA)
Military recruiting on campus
Power of Attorney
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Popular with study abroad students
Provides rights to designated individuals
who normally would not have those
rights
Laws vary from state to state
Check with school’s legal counsel about
the laws in your state or a POA from
another state
Military Recruiting
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Solomon-Pombo Amendment states that
federal funds cannot be made available to a
school that denies or restricts access to
military recruiters or denies or restricts the
establishment or operation of an ROTC unit
Generally, student recruiting information must
be provided to a military recruiter, unless the
student has prohibited release
Recent FERPA Changes
In response to the 9/11/01 attacks,
Congress made changes to FERPA
Section 507 of the USA PATRIOT ACT
amended FERPA
Recent FERPA Changes, cont’d
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Ex Parte Orders
Lawfully Issued Subpoenas and Court
Orders
Health or Safety Emergency
Disclosures to INS
Good Practices
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Signed confidentiality statements
Restricted access to records
Formal procedures on establishing
identity
Easy to use, systemic way to track
parties who have access to information
Ensuring privacy during formal and
informal counseling
Good Practices
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Ensuring computer screens are not
easily viewed by unauthorized persons
Logging out of unattended computers
Filing documents regularly
Shredding discardable documents which
contain personally identifiable
information
Good Practices
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Designate a ‘FERPA expert’ on campus
Act as a resource on campus for FERPA
related questions and concerns
Update and maintain FERPA related
information contained in school publications
Conduct regular training campus-wide on
FERPA policies and procedures
FERPA Information
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-4605
(202) 260-3887
[email protected]
www.ed.gov/offices/OM/fpco