Audrey: I am unsure how to go about this and what to do. During registration the school accidentally put my sons IEP in the parent newsletter that was given to 30-35 parents.
Confidentiality: IEP IN PARENT NEWSLETTER TO 30 PARENTS
Special Education Law and Advocacy
If it was an accident then they should just retract it and move on. They need to make sure it does not happen again.
Audrey –
Wow! That’s a pretty big blunder. You have a couple of options here.
This is a violation of both IDEA and FERPA. So you can file a complaint through your state’s IDEA complaint system, or you can file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office (http://www.ed.gov/fpco – they enforce FERPA). Your state may have an additional complaint system for violations of state student records law.
The outcome of any of these complaints will likely be the same – the school will be told to “re-train” staff on confidentiality obligations and put measures in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Alternatively, you can choose to file NO complaint with an outside agency. Perhaps you bring it to the mishap attention of “higher-ups” in your district.