Dear Parents,
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) sets out the requirements for the protection of privacy of parents and students, including privacy of student records. Generally, parents and/or students must provide written consent before an educational agency may disclose PII (Personally Identifiable Information). However, there are exceptions to this general rule. Specifically, an educational agency must provide PII when ordered by a court, which the California Dept. of Education has been ordered to do in recent litigation.
In the judgment of the Morgan Hill Case, the names, Social Security numbers, addresses and mental and physical assessments of every student attending public school in California since January 1, 2008 must be released by CDE and made available to a court appointed data analyst so it can be reviewed. For more information see:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/di/ws/morganhillcase.asp
Parents/guardians and former students 18-years-old or older may complete and mail-in an opt-out form to prevent the release of their student data. This document must be completed and submitted by April 1, 2016.
If you do not want your student’s personal information (names, Social Security numbers, addresses and mental and physical assessments) released to the plaintiffs in the Morgan Hill Case, you MUST complete the Notice and Objection Form, and ensure that it is received by April 1, 2016. It must be mailed via the U.S. Postal Service. Click on the above link to be guided to the forms and directions.
While submitting a form will not guarantee your student’s information will not be released, it is the only means for expressing an objection to the current order. The court also issues a Protective Order, which prohibits the plaintiff from disclosing any confidential information to anyone other than the parties, plaintiff’s attorneys and/or consultants, and the court. Thus, in no event is the information permitted to be disclosed to the public generally or used for any reason outside of this lawsuit, and all information must be retained by CDE or destroyed at the conclusion of the lawsuit.
Note that Fuente Nueva and the Arcata School District is not a party to the litigation and is not required to disclose any student data. If you have any questions, please contact CDE directly at (916) 319-0800.
All the Best,
Beth
