Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
During the regular meeting of the Madison County District School Board on Monday, June 17, the question of student privacy came up. Since that meeting, a parent of a recently graduated Madison County student contacted Greene Publishing, Inc. about an incident involving student addresses being obtained and used for the purpose of political campaign advertising. It has been suggested that a current school board member obtained the names and addresses of recently graduated students and information was passed along to a candidate for Madison County Superintendent of Schools. The student information was supposedly obtained for the purpose of sending a congratulatory message to the recent graduates. When the messages were sent, they did contain a congratulatory message. However, the messages also contained the name of the candidate along with “Candidate for Madison County Superintendent of Schools.”
School Board Policy number 8350 states, “A student's educational record and all personally identifiable information shall not be properly released except on the condition that the information being transferred will not be subsequently released to any other party without first obtaining the consent of the parent or adult/eligible student. The disclosed information may be used by the appropriate officials of the agency or institution to which the information was properly released, but only for the purpose for which the disclosure was made.”
Another school board policy, Policy 8330 states, “Released copies of educational records and personally identifiable information must be destroyed when no longer required by the person to whom the information was appropriately released. In order to comply with the above, all copies of the information being released should be marked as follows: ‘Information contained herein may not be released without written permission of the parent or eligible student. This information shall be destroyed when no longer needed.’”
School Board Attorney Tom Reeves was asked to provide his legal opinion on the matter. In his opinion, Reeves cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), stating that FERPA does allow for the release of a student’s “directory information.” This directory information includes: “the student’s name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student.”
School Board Policy 8330 does state, “The District shall make available, upon request, certain information known as ‘directory information’ without prior permission of the parents or the eligible student … Directory information means information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. The Board designates student ‘directory information’ as: a student's name; photograph; date and place of birth; participation in officially-recognized activities and sports; height and weight, if a member of an athletic team; dates of attendance; grade level; enrollment status; date of graduation or program completion; awards received and most recent educational agency or institution attended. Designation of directory information shall occur at a regularly scheduled Board meeting. At the meeting, the Board shall consider whether designation of such information would put students at risk of becoming targets of marketing campaigns, the media, or criminal acts.”
In his conclusion, Reeves stated that it was his opinion that because the students’ names and graduations dates constitutes “directory information,” that information was permitted to be released. Reeves further states that, although FERPA’s definition of “directory information” does include student addresses, school board policy does not list a student’s address as “directory information” and “therefore not properly released.” Reeves also stated, “No information (directory information or otherwise) should have been released for students whose parents have opted out of such release. To the extent that the District has not been giving the annual notice required by Policy 8330, this should be corrected immediately.” School Board Policy 8330 states: “An annual written notice shall be given to inform parents, guardians and eligible students of their rights of access, waiver of access, challenge and hearing, privacy, categories of personally identifiable student information designated as directory information data, and the location and availability of the District's policy on education records of students. Alternate methods of notice shall be made for parents, guardians or eligible students unable to comprehend a written notice in English. Parents or eligible students may, by providing a written statement to the principal within two (2) weeks of the first day of the school year or entry into the school system request that all specific portions of directory information for that specific student not be released.”
“School board policy was not followed here,” said the concerned parent. “I just want there to be some accountability. I don’t want this to be just ’swept under the rug.’”
Greene Publishing, Inc. reached out to School Board Member Carol Gibson for a comment. “The students and parents I’ve spoken to were thrilled to receive a card in the mail,” said Gibson. “For many it was the only congratulatory, or any card ever received. Many students do not get recognized during their high school years with medals/awards/trophies/scholarships etc. Some students face many obstacles before getting to this point in their lives, but they made it! This note provided recognition for their accomplishments. I don’t think any student can be congratulated too much!”
“Since the fall of 2018, I have mailed congratulatory messages to Madison County students,” said Bart Alford. “The practice was initiated by me acknowledging children in written form who scored a level five on state testing, the highest a student could score. In the spring of 2019, I began sending custom-designed graduation cards to the senior graduates, a tradition I have continued through this graduating season.
“I did sign the card ‘Candidate for Madison County Superintendent of Schools.’ Knowing I had just announced my candidacy in the paper on Wednesday, I felt that statement should be included. I mailed the cards after all the graduation ceremonies.
“Again, I am proud of the graduates and was happy to be able to congratulate them for their hard work and share in the form of a written message that celebrated their success.”
The next regular meeting of the Madison County District School Board is scheduled to take place on Monday, July 1, at 6 p.m. The meeting is set to take place in the district meeting room, located at 210 NE Duval Ave., in Madison.