Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law, requires that the school district, with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child’s education records. However, the district may disclose appropriately designated directory information without written consent, unless you have advised the district to the contrary. The primary purpose of directory information is to allow the district to include this type of information from your child’s education records in certain school publications. Examples include:

a playbill, showing your student’s role in a drama production;
the annual yearbook;
the Honor Roll or other recognition lists;
graduation programs;
sports activity sheets, such as for wrestling, showing weight and height of team members.

Directory information, which is information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released, can also be disclosed to outside organizations without a parent’s written consent. Outside organizations include, but are not limited to, companies that publish school yearbooks or sports leagues or athletic conferences. In addition, New York State Education Law and federal laws require school districts to provide military recruiters, upon request, with student names, addresses and telephone listings – unless parents have advised the school district that they do not want their student’s information disclosed without their prior written consent.

If you do not want the district to disclose some or all directory information from your child’s education records without your prior written consent, you must notify the district in writing by the end of the second week of school each September. The district has designated the following information as directory information: student’s name; address; telephone listing; e-mail address; photograph; date and place of birth; major field of study; dates of attendance; grade level; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; degrees, honors and awards received; and the most recent educational agency or institution attended.