Confidentiality of Student Records - UCPS - Exceptional Children ...

Union County Public Schools
Exceptional Children’s Programs
1­09­10
GUIDELINES FOR CONFIDENTIALITY OF STUDENT RECORDS
This local procedure was adapted, in part, from the state publication “Guideline Policies and Procedures for Complying
with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act with Training Materials for Staff Orientation” and Union County
Board of Education Policy.
A. THE LAW AND STUDENT RECORDS
1. Student records for students with disabilities are regulated by two laws. The first is “FERPA” – the
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, also known as the “Buckley Amendment” of 1974. The
second law, PL 105­17, was enacted in 1997 and is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Amendments. (“IDEA”)
2. These laws restrict the kind of information kept, the manner in which it is collected, the use to
which the information is put, how the information is transmitted, the method by which the
information can be amended and the manner in which data can be destroyed.
3. The Union County Board of Education has adopted Policy 4 – 14 Student Records consistent with
these laws.
4. It is important that all staff members of the Exceptional Children’s Program understand
confidentiality requirements regarding the collection, handling, and transmission of information in
records of students with disabilities.
5. Additionally, the Union County Board of Education has adopted Policy 3 – 2 Employee Code of
Ethics and Standards of Conduct which requires:
a. “Complying with all school board policies and administrative guidelines, State Board of
Education and Department of Public Instruction policies, rules, procedures and
regulations, and federal, state and local statutes, regulations and ordinances governing
public school employees.”
b. “Maintaining strict professional confidentiality in all school related matters.”
6. Parents and eligible students have the right to inspect and have inaccurate or misleading
information deleted or add a rebuttal to records that they believe to be inaccurate or misleading but
the administration determines to be necessary to the proper education of the student.
B. CONTENT AND LOCATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN’S RECORDS
1. The Exceptional Children’s Program confidential records will be kept in a separate file from the
student’s cumulative folder. A reference will be made in the cumulative folder that an Exceptional
Children’s folder exists.
2. Working notes of staff members, that are not shared with anyone except a substitute teacher, are not
considered pupil records and are not placed in the Exceptional Children’s folder.
3. The Exceptional Children’s Folder contains state forms for referral to placement, copies of
psychological reports, and information from other agencies. Test protocols are not placed in the
student’s record.
C. DISPOSITION OF RECORDS
1. EC student records will be transferred to another school in which the pupil is to enroll. The
sending school is to retain information on the student’s name, date of birth, name and address of
parents while the student was attending the school, and the date of the student’s exit. The Central
Office “yellow copy” of the Exceptional Children’s folder is retained in storage in the Exceptional
Children’s Office for a period of three years following the transfer.

2. EC student’s records are sent from the school to the Exceptional Children’s Office when a student
graduates from high school. The parents of graduating seniors are notified that they may request a
copy of the entire file from Central Services.
D. PARENT AND STUDENT ACCESS TO RECORDS
1. Each parent of a dependent child shall have access to the child’s records. “Parent” means either the
natural parent, the legal guardian, or the person acting as a parent in the absence of the natural
parent.
2. Upon reaching age eighteen, students or former students assume their rights regarding records and
placement.
3. When a parent or legal guardian is providing more than half of the support of the pupil who is at
least eighteen years old, the parent may retain access to the pupil’s records without the pupil’s
consent. However, the parent does not exercise any other rights regarding the records.
4. In some cases the parents will pursue a Court hearing to have the student declared incompetent at
age eighteen. After being presented a copy of such a Court document, the school will give the
parents full rights to the student’s records and placement.
5. At any time a parent or adult student requests access to the Exceptional Children’s folder, qualified
school personnel shall be present to interpret the record.
6. Access to a record shall be granted within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed forty­five
(45) days. However, the goal of the Union County Exceptional Children’s Program is that access,
with a interpretive conference, should be provided within fifteen (15) working days. The school
psychologist should be present to interpret evaluation data. If the student has not had a
psychological evaluation, such as with a child placed as speech impaired, the speech/language
specialist or other specialist should be present for the interpretive.
7. After interpretation, parents shall have the right to request copies of the records or portions of the
records. (Protocols of restricted tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are not
placed in the student’s record and may not be copied for distribution to the parent.)
8. There is no charge for copy of records being sent to a parent or to another school unit.
E. PARENT REQUEST TO AMEND RECORDS
1. Each parent and eligible student has the right to inspect, disagree with, and request that information
be amended or deleted. This would be based upon the belief that the information is inaccurate,
misleading or otherwise in violation of the privacy, rights of the pupil or parent. The parent and
eligible student also have the right to request that additional information be added to the student
records.
2. The parent should place in writing the request to amend the student’s records. The parent should
sign the statement which explains the nature of the objection of the questioned record.
3. The Exceptional Children’s Department Chairperson and other appropriate staff members should
meet informally with the parent in an effort to resolve the dispute over the challenged contents of
the records.
4. The meeting can result in the decision for information to be amended, deleted, added, or for an
independent evaluation to be provided.
5. If no resolution can be reached, the issue should be referred to the district level. If a resolution
cannot be reached after attempts at the district level, mediation or a hearing can be requested by
either parent or the school system.

F. EMPLOYEE AND THIRD PARTY ACCESS TO RECORDS
1. Prior parental consent is NOT required for these uses:
a. School unit employees ­ Personnel who have direct evaluation and instructional responsibilities
for the student have access to the student records. This includes teacher assistants and student teachers.
The access by clerical staff is limited to information which is necessary for the performance of their job
responsibilities.
b. Court Order or Subpoena ­ Student record information shall be released in compliance with a
judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena, upon condition that a reasonable effort is made to notify the
parent in advance of such compliance. Advance notice is required to give a parent the opportunity to
exercise the right of attempting to quash a subpoena in the manner provided by law. If advance notice is
not possible, the information shall be released to comply with the subpoena and a written notice or
phone call shall be sent to the parent simultaneously. Whenever such orders and/or subpoenas are
received, a copy should be forwarded to the General Counsel for assistance in compliance.
c. Representatives from the Department of Education or Representative from the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction ­ Information from student records shall be made available in
connection with the audit and evaluation of Exceptional Children’s Programs.
d. Other School Units to Which the Student is Transferring ­ The student’s Exceptional Children’s
folder from the school shall be sent to the new school. The sending school shall retain a record of the
address of the new school to which the records were sent and the date on which the records were sent.
The school retains information on the student’s name, date of birth, and the parent/guardian’s last known
address. The duplicate yellow copy folder of the student’s records will be retained for a period of three
years in the Central Office Exceptional Children’s files.
e. Telephone Requests From Receiving School ­ Telephone requests for information from student
records shall not be honored unless the identity of the caller is known and the caller is authorized to
receive the information under provisions of this procedure. In the case of an unknown caller from the
receiving school, an attempt should be made to confirm the identity of the caller. This consists of
accepting the request, confirming the telephone number of the caller through another source (such as
phone directory), and in returning the call by dialing the confirmed number.
f. Health and Safety Emergencies ­ Student record information shall be disclosed to appropriate
persons and agencies in connection with an emergency to protect the health or safety of the student or
other persons. This included cooperating with the Department of Social Services in reported cases of
suspected child abuse or neglect.
2. Prior parental, written consent IS REQUIRED except as stated above.
3. Information in student records can be sent to other agencies, organizations, and other persons at the
written request of the parent, guardian, or adult­age student. The consent must be in writing,
specify the records to be disclosed, state the purpose of the disclosure, identify to whom the
disclosure may be made and be signed and dated by the parent, guardian or eligible student.
4. The local “Consent for Release for Information” form is to be used. A copy of this form and the
date of the transfer of records is retained in the student’s Exceptional Children’s Record.
G. RECORD OF REVIEW OF INFORMATION
1. When information from a student’s record is reviewed by any person or organization other than
personnel of the school district, a record of such request and review shall be maintained as part of
the student’s Exceptional Children’s folder.
2. The Student Record Inspection Sheet is used for this purpose. This written log must be filled out in
entirety specifying the reason for the access, the items inspected, the date, and the signature of the
person gaining access to the record. An example of the use of this sheet is with a state Monitoring
Team member who is auditing records. Another example is when a suspected abuse report has been
filed and the Department of Social Services caseworker has a need to review records.

H. STATE CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENTS
1. State Procedures for confidentiality and access to records are contained in section .1509 of the
current edition of Procedures Governing Programs and Services for Children with Disabilities.
2. The Handbook on Parents’ Rights outlines the parents’ opportunity to examine records and the
required parent consent for release of records to a person or organization that is not otherwise
authorized to see the records.
3. The introductory comments at the IEP (Individual Education Program) Team meeting should
include a statement that the information presented is to be treated in conformance with
confidentiality requirements. If the parent brings persons to the meeting who are unrelated to the
student and are not a statutorily required member of the IEP Team, the parent should provide
consent for them to receive confidential information. This may be done by reminding the parent
that confidential student information will be discussed and that by inviting the person they will
have access to that information and ask that they so understand.
4. All Exceptional Children’s Staff are to review confidentiality training procedures each year.
I. LISTING OF PERSONS WITH ACCESS
Each school will maintain a listing of those persons having access to exceptional Children’s records.