The Granby Board of Education invites the community to the first edition of its periodic column—The Board of Ed Update. The board aims to provide information about our schools and notes beyond scheduled public meetings.
In today’s social media and fast-food-news culture, the risk of potentially harmful information getting in the wrong hands, or misinformation being spread, is at an all-time high. The board of education supports the superintendent’s communication plan and efforts to inspire community trust through timely and transparent communication, but sometimes criticism is leveled at the BOE and school administration for not publicly discussing certain incidents or issues that might be known to parents or shared on social media. While many board members may be personally aware of such issues, it is generally not the position of board members to insert themselves into such a situation. That is for the administration to handle. Also, if it involves an incident regarding personnel or possible disciplinary issues for students, the board should stay away to safeguard any bias if the matter needs to go to hearing before the board.
In fact, there are laws that prevent the BOE from sharing or discussing certain information publicly. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that grants parents access to their children’s educational records and protects these records from being released without consent. Many of us are probably familiar with HIPAA, the law that similarly protects us from having our health information shared without consent. HIPAA and FERPA both allow us to access our private records and control who can see them, and they both provide guidance and penalties regarding violations of our privacy.
Why is FERPA important? It allows parents, and students over the age of 18 to access all school records. FERPA is essential to protect parents’ right to know what is happening with their children’s education. For example, if a child is placed in a leveled class, parents can request information about how the placement decision was made, including any testing, interventions or disciplinary data that may have been considered. Parents can also request amendments to school records if they disagree or wish to add additional information.
FERPA provides protection from disclosure, and allows a student’s disciplinary records, grades, disability status and meetings with support personnel to remain private. Students with disabilities also receive additional protections under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) law. Personnel who need to know this information, such as the child’s teacher, school counselor or assistant principal, have access, but others do not.
Humans by nature are curious. We may wish to know what type of disciplinary consequences are imposed on our children’s classmates, or if a child who often acts out may have some type of disability. However, children not only deserve, but are entitled to, their privacy. Students who are working on their behavior, or who have simply made poor choices, should not have their private information exposed to anyone. Our schools have publicly-available policies and investigative procedures regarding bullying and other interpersonal issues, but the outcomes of individual cases must be kept private. It’s the right—and legal—thing to do. To learn more about FERPA, please go to studentprivacy.ed.gov
We look forward to an exciting and productive school year and more updates in future Drummer issues. We welcome your comments and most importantly your contributions. As a reminder, BOE meetings are held the first and third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. You are welcome to attend or join via Zoom. Meetings can be viewed anytime on GCTV16.org