Confidentiality of Student Information
FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a Federal law that
protects the privacy of student education records including special education
records. FERPA regulates privacy of educational records for all students.
Educational records may include, but not limited to:
 Academic work completed and level of achievement
 Attendance data
 Scores and test protocols of standardized intelligence, aptitude, and
psychological evaluations
 Interest inventory results
 Health data
 Family background information
 Information from teachers or counselors
 Observations and verified reports of serious or recurrent behavior
patterns
 IEPs
 Documentation
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:
 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.
In all of the above examples, special education records are obtained through
the Office of Special Education at the District Office. In no situation are special
education records transferred by the school.
Within the school, special education records may be accessed through the
school psychologist by staff with a legitimate “need to know”. A list of
individuals with a need to know is kept by the school psychologist. A signin/out document is maintained at the school to indicate those individuals who
access records and the reason for it.
In addition, special education professionals must remain aware of the
sensitive nature of the paperwork we manage on a daily basis. We must be
vigilant in protecting the privacy of our students by taking precautions that
IEPs and psychological evaluations, for example, are not accessible to those
who do not have a legitimate "need to know." Some basic principles to guide
us:
 Do not send IEPs home with students under age 18. If parents did not
attend an IEP meeting, they may obtain a copy by contacting a Special
Education Secretary at the District Office.
 Special Education teachers who wish to view the psychological reports
of their students must sign out the records through their school
psychologist. All evaluation reports must be returned to the school
psychologist and may not be maintained by the special education
teacher.
 IEP Team Members may not make copies of the psycho-educational
report.
 Be vigilant when you are copying IEPs to ensure that items are not
accidentally left on the printer or copier for someone to see or take.
 Be sensitive to family issues that are not relevant to the student’s
educational planning.