Data Practices Under FERPA Public Notice
Northeast Metro 916 informs parents/guardians of students in attendance and eligible students in attendance in the district of their rights regarding pupil records.
- Parents/guardians and eligible students have the following rights:
- A parent/guardian or eligible student can inspect and review the student’s education records. A parent/guardian or eligible student should submit to the school district a written request to inspect education records that identify as precisely as possible the record or records he or she wishes to inspect. The parent/guardian or eligible student will be notified of the time and place where the records may be inspected;
- A parent/guardian or eligible student has a right to seek amendment of the student’s education records to ensure that those records are not inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy or other rights. A parent/guardian or eligible student may ask the school district to amend a record they believe is inaccurate or misleading. The request shall be in writing, identify the item the parent/guardian or eligible student believes to be inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the privacy or other rights of the student, shall state the reason for this belief, and shall specify the correction the parent/guardian or eligible student wishes the school district to make. The parent/guardian or eligible student shall sign the request. If the school district decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent/guardian or eligible student, the school district will notify the parent/guardian or eligible student of the decision and advise him or her of the right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent/guardian or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing;
- A parent/guardian or eligible student has a right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information in the student’s education records, except to the extent that federal and state law and the regulations promulgated thereunder authorize disclosures without consent;
- The school district may disclose education records to other school officials within the school district if the school district has determined they have legitimate educational interests. For purposes of such disclosure, a “school official” is a person employed by the school board in an administrative, supervisory, instructional, or other professional position or education assistant; a person duly elected to the school board; a person for the period of his or her performance as a temporary substitute in a professional position for the period of his or her performance as a substitute; and a person employed by, or under contract to, the school board to perform a special task (such as a secretary, a clerk, attorney, auditor, police liaison officer or school resource officer when serving in that capacity, public information officer or data practices compliance official) for the period of his or her performance as an employee or contractor. A school official has a “legitimate educational interest” if the individual needs to review an education record to fulfill his or her professional responsibility and includes, but is not limited to, an interest directly related to classroom instruction, teaching, student achievement, and progress, the discipline of a student, student health and welfare or the ability to respond to a request for educational data;
- The school district forwards education records on request to a school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll, including information about disciplinary action taken as a result of any incident in which the student possessed or used a dangerous weapon, suspension and expulsion information according to Every Student Succeeds Act and data regarding a student’s history of violent behavior and any disposition order which adjudicates the student as delinquent for committing an illegal act on school district property and certain other illegal acts;
- A parent/guardian or eligible student has a right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education regarding an alleged failure by the school district to comply with the requirements of 20 U.S.C. § 1232G, and the rules promulgated thereunder, the name and address of the office that administers the family education rights and privacy act is below.
- Family Policy Compliance Office | U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW. | Washington, DC. 20202-5920
1-800-872-5327
- A parent/guardian or eligible student has a right to obtain a copy of the school district’s policy regarding the protection and privacy of pupil records; and
- Copies of the school district’s policy regarding the protection and privacy of school records (policy #515) are on the school district website.
- Northeast Metro 916 has adopted a school board policy to comply with state and federal laws regarding education records. The policy does the following:
- It classifies records as public, private, or confidential.
- It establishes procedures and regulations to permit parents/ guardians or students to inspect and review a student’s education records. These procedures include determining fees for copies, listing the locations of these education records, and identifying the individuals in charge of the records.
- It establishes procedures and regulations to allow parents/ guardians or students to request the amendment of a student’s education records to ensure that the records are not inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy or other rights.
- It establishes procedures and regulations for access to and disclosure of education records.
- It establishes procedures and regulations for safeguarding the privacy of education records and obtaining the prior written consent of the parent/guardian or student when required before disclosure.
- Under applicable law, Northeast Metro 916 gives notice to parents/guardians of students currently in attendance in the school district and eligible students currently in attendance in the school district of their rights regarding “directory information.”
“Directory information” includes the following information relating to a student: the student’s name; major field of study; dates of attendance; grade level; enrollment status; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; degrees, honors, and awards received; the most recent educational agency or institution attended by the student; and other similar information. “Directory information” also includes the name(s) of the student’s parent(s) or guardian(s). “Directory information” does not include identifying information on a student’s religion, race, color, social position, or nationality.
- The information listed above shall be public information the school district may disclose from a student's education records or about a parent/guardian.
- Should the parent/guardian of a student or the student so desire, any or all of the listed information will not be disclosed without the parent/guardian’s or eligible student’s prior written consent except to school officials as provided under federal law.
- To make any or all of the directory information listed above “private” (i.e., subject to consent before disclosure), the parent/guardian or eligible student must make a written request to the building principal within thirty (30) days after the date of the last publication of this notice. This written request must include the following information:
- Name of student and parent/guardian, as appropriate;
- Home address;
The school presently attended by the student;
If applicable, parent/guardian’s legal relationship to the student;
- Specific categories or categories of directory information are not to be made public without the parent/guardian’s or eligible student’s prior written consent.
- Under applicable law, Northeast Metro 916 informs parents/guardians of secondary and eligible secondary students of their rights regarding releasing information to military recruiting officers. The school district must release secondary students' names, addresses, and home telephone numbers to military recruiting officers within sixty (60) days after the date of the request. Data released to military recruiting officers under this provision may be used only to provide information to students about military service, state and federal veterans’ education benefits, and other career and educational opportunities provided by the military. They cannot be further disseminated to any other person except personnel of the recruiting services of the armed forces. Should the parent/guardian of a student or the eligible student so desire, any or all of the listed information will not be disclosed to military recruiting officers without prior consent.
To refuse the release of this information without prior consent, the parent/guardian or eligible student must make a written request to the responsible authority, director of educational services, or alternative learning center principal by October 1 of each year. This written request must include the following information:
- Name of student and parent/guardian, as appropriate;
- Home address;
- Student’s grade level;
- The school presently attended by the student;
- Parent/guardian’s legal relationship to the student, if applicable;
- Specific categories or categories of information that will not be released to military recruiters without prior consent;
- Specific category(s) directory information that will not be released to the public, including military recruiters.
Notice: Refusing the above information to military recruiting officers alone does not affect the school district’s release of directory information to the public, including military recruiting officers. The procedures in this notice's directory information section must also be followed to make any directory information about a student private. Suppose you do not want your student’s directory information released to military recruiting officers. In that case, you must notify the school district that you do not want this directory information released to any public member, including military recruiting officers.