Chryssie: I’ve experienced two incidents in the last month in the public high school where I work. (1) In the school where I work (District A), a colleague of mine who is the husband of the principal at my oldest son’s school (District B), knew my son was a student in her building. (2) A student in one of my classes used a specific wording that referred to my opting my youngest son out of testing and specific instruction. This student’s mother is my son’s assistant principal. Are either of these incidents a breach in confidentiality? I would like court cases, laws, anything documentation that will support my position. Thank you.
Retired teacher My daughter wants me to have access to my granddaughters 504
My child has a 504 her teacher has been discussing her plan and shamming her about a poor grade multiple times in class now which is creating a major issue. Is this legal ?
Meghan, I am not sure about legal, but such conduct should be a violation of the state, & district code of conduct for educators. Your state parent training and information project may be of some help. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center A complaint to district administrators, & the state education agency are options.
Do I have to keep blinds open in my high school resource classroom? The blinds face a busy hallway and students and myself are visible.
No! Children who receive special education services don’t have more rights to privacy than kids in regular ed classes.
Do teachers NOT working with a specal ed student have the right to IEP meeting information?
I think FERPA allows IEP information be disseminated to staff with a “legitimate educational interest”. If those teachers you are referring to have a motive other than this, I guess NOT!
My son had had an IEP that started in 3rd grade. On June 28th (after the school let out for the summer) my son had gone to play at a friend’s apartment complex with other children from his class. One of the children handed my son a piece of paper and said “my mom said to give this to you.” My son ran the piece of paper over to me. Upon reading the paper I was horrified, it was my son’s IEP progress report card with narritive on my son’s progress and his grades. I didn’t know this child or this mother. The one page crumbled paper I received had page 82 on the bottom so I have no idea how many pages were sent but I only received the one page. I made several calls to the school district with a promise of a call back which I never received. Please advise what I should do about this.
You can put the request for the document in writing. Your state parent training and information center can assist you. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center
Chryssie –
It’s generally acceptable for people to know that a student attends a particular school. In fact, under FERPA, schools are allowed to release what is called “directory information” to third parties – this includes student names, ages, grades, home address, and telephone – unless parents opt out of that. So the first situation probably wouldn’t be a breach of confidentiality. An exception may exist if the school solely served students with IEPs, but probably not even then if it’s a public school.
The second situation may be an issue. It’s debatable whether the information shared would be protected under FERPA, but it does certainly sound unprofessional. Perhaps have a talk with the mother/assistant principal?