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. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

GCSD Faculty and Staff FERPA Training Instruction Document

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT—FERPA

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record. However, FERPA slows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following condition (34 CFR 99.31):

 School officials with legitimate educational interest;

 Other schools to which a student is transferring;

 Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;

 Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;

 Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;

 Accrediting organizations;

 To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;

 Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and

 State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State Law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information such as a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, students handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.