Student/Counselor Confidentiality

[quincy]

Potential lawsuits, not to mention a potential loss of federal funding.

The phrase "educational record" as used in FERPA has been broadly construed by the courts to include anything that contains personally identifiable information directly related to a student and held by the educational agency or an actor for the agency (ie. teacher, counselor). This includes any information on a student's behavorial issues.

All that can be safely disclosed by an educational institution to others, without student or parental consent or a court order, is the name, address, phone number and email address of a student, dates of attendance, degrees awarded, a student's enrollment status and the field of study of the student.

I agree with Humusluvr's assessment and advice.

 

[xylene]

Where does it say in there that it is fine to discuss behavioral issues of one child with ANOTHER child's parents?

No, no, no. You don't talk about a child's issues, problems, educational path, anything with anyone other than the parents of THAT KID. That is a violation of that child's privacy.

Imagine the ramifications if your counselor could talk openly about other students to one kid';s parents?

Situation A - Counselor tells Annie's parents that Becky is picking on her in the hall. Annie's parents decide to go down the block and confront Becky's parents, fight ensues, police are called. How did Annie's parents find out about this issue? Oh, the counselor told them. sue.

Situation B - Counselor tells Jim's parent that he has been involved in rough play with Paul. Parent decides to kick Paul's dad's butt for his kid beating up on Jim.

All of these situations, and I could think of a thousand more, where the counselor gives out information on another student who is harming someone else's kid ends with violence or phone calls or fighting and drama.

None of your hypothetical scenarios change the fact that it is perfectly acceptable for school personnel to mention students by name with the law and the guidelines of how it will be enforced.

There is very strict guidelines outlined by the SCOTUS for when an educational privacy violation is actionable - virtually never.

Not to mention that a massive chink in any case is the definitional problems of disclosure. The law was not meant to, and does not build some sort of a Chinese wall whereby school administrators must play deaf-mute and hang reactionless to parent complaints about the conduct of other students.

Is this school handing compliance well? No.

Will dropping a FERPA bomb improve the parents position? No.

 

[BOR]

There is very strict guidelines outlined by the SCOTUS for when an educational privacy violation is actionable - virtually never.

Can you post that case (s), as the Court RARELY issues guildelines.

 

[xylene]

Can you post that case (s), as the Court RARELY issues guildelines.

For one, Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo

which clarifies the exact relevant points from

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY et al. v. DOE

Our conclusion that FERPA's nondisclosure provisions fail to confer enforceable rights is buttressed by the mechanism that Congress chose to provide for enforcing those provisions. Congress expressly authorized the Secretary of Education to "deal with violations" of the Act, §1232g(f) (emphasis added),

outlining the guidelines from the Dept. of Education (which I cited earlier)

 

[BOR]

For one, Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo

which clarifies the exact relevant points from

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY et al. v. DOE



outlining the guidelines from the Dept. of Education (which I cited earlier)

I read both of the cases syllabus headnotes.

Each case is independent in a specific violation of FERPA.

So my next Q is, does FERPA not create a private cause of action under 1983 for ALL subsection violations.

I do not know, just asking!!

 

[Humusluvr]

None of your hypothetical scenarios change the fact that it is perfectly acceptable for school personnel to mention students by name with the law and the guidelines of how it will be enforced.

It is NEVER acceptable for a school counselor to approach another parent and talk about a child that does not belong to that parent. My hypotheticals DETAIL why student privacy is so important.

There is very strict guidelines outlined by the SCOTUS for when an educational privacy violation is actionable - virtually never.

Not to mention that a massive chink in any case is the definitional problems of disclosure. The law was not meant to, and does not build some sort of a Chinese wall whereby school administrators must play deaf-mute and hang reactionless to parent complaints about the conduct of other students.

This WASNT a parent complaining about another student, and the admin ignoring it. It was a school counselor approaching a parent and disclosing another students behavioral issues. Completely inappropriate. The counselor absolutely cannot talk about another student, by name, to another kid's parents.

Is this school handing compliance well? No.

Will dropping a FERPA bomb improve the parents position? No.

It WILL make the school aware that the parent knows that FERPA applies and that if she gets wind that the counselor is discussing her kid with anyone other than her, she can report the counselor to the State Accrediting Agency. Will the counselor be fired, jailed, or maimed? Unlikely, but I do believe that knowing your rights gives you a certain amount of power.

 

[quincy]

In Owasso ISD v Falvo, the court held that peer reviews and peer grading is not a FERPA violation.

Moore v Huche said the same of teacher evaluations.

A 2002 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, United States v Miami University, ruled that university disciplinary records are education records under FERPA and cannot be disclosed without the student's consent.

And, BOR, in Gonzaga University v John Doe, the court held that a FERPA violation cannot give rise to a private cause of action. FERPA violations can affect the funding an educational institution receives. Although, as noted by Humusluvr, it is not inconceivable that a suit could potentially result over reactions by others to a disclosure.

Information that cannot be disclosed without a student's consent (or the parent of the student's consent) is any information directly relating to the student that is maintained by the educational institution (including records of any kind on a student's sexual behavior, anti-social behavior, illegal behavior, mental or psychological problems and related behavior, or the student's political or religious affiliations, social security numbers, student identification numbers, race, ethnicity, nationality, transcripts, grades, photographs, student projects, written documents, films or videotapes . . . and the list goes on).

In addition to what I mentioned earlier as NOT being covered by FERPA are medical records (which are already protected), campus police records, and data that is gathered for statistical purposes only and that have no identifiable information about students.

Based on what has been posted by pschwed, it appears that the counselor violated FERPA by disclosing private information about an identified student to another parent, without the student's consent or the consent of the student's parent.

Although a violation of this sort is unlikely to have any financial ramifications for the school, it could result in disciplinary action against the counselor. No educational institution wants to risk losing federal funding through the carelessness of an agent mishandling a student's private information. A FERPA violation is not a criminal offense, however, and there are no fines or jail time and, as mentioned above, the Court ruled that there is no private cause of action that can arise from a FERPA violation so a person cannot sue an institution or an agent for the institution over a wrongful disclosure.

 

[pschwed]

Thank you.

Thank you all for your responses. I have a meeting scheduled with the school administration to discuss. I've said it before, but all I want is for the school to stop discussing my son in a negative light. My intent is not to get anyone fired or sue. If I bring up FERPA in the meeting, do I refer to it as "FERPA" phonetically as it sounds or by some other name? Is there a document somewhere I can print out and bring with me?

 

[xylene]

Thank you all for your responses. I have a meeting scheduled with the school administration to discuss. I've said it before, but all I want is for the school to stop discussing my son in a negative light. My intent is not to get anyone fired or sue. If I bring up FERPA in the meeting, do I refer to it as "FERPA" phonetically as it sounds or by some other name? Is there a document somewhere I can print out and bring with me?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.

 

[Humusluvr]

Thank you all for your responses. I have a meeting scheduled with the school administration to discuss. I've said it before, but all I want is for the school to stop discussing my son in a negative light. My intent is not to get anyone fired or sue. If I bring up FERPA in the meeting, do I refer to it as "FERPA" phonetically as it sounds or by some other name? Is there a document somewhere I can print out and bring with me?

I wouldn't print out the document. Here's how you should say it.

"It has come to my attention that you discussed my son's past issues with another parent. I absolutely don't want that to happen again. I did some research on the internet about FERPA, and I know that the only person who you can talk to about my son is me. I want to move past any issues that my son had, and I expect that you will respect my son's rights to privacy. Please, do not discuss my son with ANYONE other than me. OK?"

Then they (and you) should drop it and move on in a positive light.

 

[IncogAg]

pschwed you're on the right track. Just ignore what xylene is trying to tell you because it sounds like his/her knowledge of the law is barely above the wikipedia level.

Good luck.

 

[pschwed]

Meeting Held

I had the meeting with the school administration and it went very well. It was obvious they knew they were very much in the wrong and went so far as to say it. They said they'd spoken to the counselor that made the call and that it won't happen again. They said going forward they would only discuss a student with that students parents and I have their support going forward. Mission accomplished! Thank you everyone for your advice.

 

[stealth2]

I wouldn't print out the document. Here's how you should say it.

"It has come to my attention that you discussed my son's past issues with another parent. I absolutely don't want that to happen again. I did some research on the internet about FERPA, and I know that the only person who you can talk to about my son is me. I want to move past any issues that my son had, and I expect that you will respect my son's rights to privacy. Please, do not discuss my son with ANYONE other than me. OK?"

Then they (and you) should drop it and move on in a positive light.

Uuuh, humusdude... What about the child's OTHER parent?

 

[Humusluvr]

Uuuh, humusdude... What about the child's OTHER parent?

OK, me as in the collective gene pool the student came from, absent any court orders or the like. I think you got the jist.... only discuss student with students own legal guardian or parent.

pschwed, thanks for coming back and posting the results. We always like to hear a good resolution to the conflict. Good for you, good for son, good luck to you all!

 

[IncogAg]

Uuuh, humusdude... What about the child's OTHER parent?

haha, I'm assuming this was a joke.

Nice job pschwed. Glad to hear things went well.