FERPA Notification

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Notification of Rights Under FERPA and PPRA

FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and students over 18 years of age (eligible students) certain rights with respect to the student’s education records. These rights are:

1. The right to inspect and review the students’s education records within 45 days of the day the school receives a request for access. Parents or eligible students should submit to the school principal a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect.

2. The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate or misleading. Parents or eligible students may ask the school to amend a record that they believe is inaccurate or misleading. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when the request is made.

3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. Upon request, the school discloses education records without consent to officials of another school district in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.

4. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the school to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-4605

5. The right to request that Student Directory Information be withheld.

Additionally, military recruiters, upon appropriate request, will be provided access to secondary school students’ names, addresses and telephone listings, unless parents notify the District, in writing at the commencement of the school year, that they do not wish such information be provided to military recruiters without their prior written consent.

The purpose of establishing directory information is to avoid the need to obtain individual parent consent each time the District might wish to recognize individual student or group accomplishments. Directory information is considered public information and may be distributed without obtaining prior parental consent.

Parents or guardians who do not wish to have their child included within the directory information as described above are to annually notify the Office of the Superintendent in writing within two weeks of the publication of this notice. Parents/guardians may object to any or all of the five items listed above. No information which has been objected to in writing will be distributed without prior consent from the parent or guardian.

If you have any questions regarding the access to student information, please contact the Superintendent’s office (845) 463-7800.

For more information

PPRA (Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment)

In accordance with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Spackenkill Union Free School District hereby enacts the following policy:

1. Third party surveys - parents shall have the right, upon request, to inspect a third party (non-U.S. Dept. of Education) survey before the surveys administered are distributed by the District to students.

2. In the event that a third party survey contains any of the following types of information:

    • political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;
    • mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family;
    • sex behavior or attitudes;
    • illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating; demeaning behavior;
    • critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;
    • legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships such as those of lawyers, physicians and ministers;
    • religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student with student’s parent;
    • income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in the program or for receiving financial assistance under such program)

then the District will protect the privacy of the student in the event of administration of such a test, including by allowing parents to inspect the survey prior to administration and by advising the students that their responses should contain no personally identifiable information. The provision of this paragraph shall not apply to any survey administered to a student in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

3. Parents shall have the right to inspect, upon request, instructional material used as part of the educational curriculum for students. The request should be made in writing and directed to the Office of the Director of Curriculum and Instruction. The response will be provided within a reasonable period of time from the date of receipt of the request. Instructional materials include material provided to a student regardless of format, including printed or representational materials, and materials in electronic or digital formats (such as materials accessible through the Internet). The term does not include academic tests or academic assessments.

4. With regard to administration of physical examinations or screening that may be administered to students, parents shall have the opportunity to opt out of any non-emergency, invasive physical examination or screening that is required as a condition of attendance and administered by the school and scheduled by the school in advance and not necessary to protect immediate health and safety of the student, or other students. For these purposes, “invasive physical examination” means any medical examination that involves exposure of private body parts, or any act or such examination that includes incision, insertion or injection into the body, but does not include a hearing, vision or scoliosis screening. Additionally, this paragraph does not apply to any examination or screening that is permitted or required by New York State Law, including such examinations or screenings permitted without parental notification.

5. The District will not provide personal information collected from student for purpose of marketing or selling.

6. The parent shall have the right to inspect, upon written request, any instrument used in the collection of personally identifiable information from students that may be used for marketing or selling.

7. The District will provide annual notification to parents that they have the right to “opt out” of third-party surveys as described Paragraph II or physical examinations or screenings as described in Paragraph IV, and activities involving the collection, disclosure or use of personal information collected from students for the purpose of marketing or for selling the information, or otherwise providing that information to others for that purpose.