Show J h R r jd l tuc r F N tt u uBy r By ByJ J Dr Wayne Reid Held Superintendent i Who has access I to school records The so called Buckley Amendment has been federal law since November of 1974 Yet many parents and school people are arc not aware of the laws law's requirements A large majority of parents do not know of their legal rights and many teachers do not realize that most of the written comments they make within the school system in the course of their professional duties must now be shown at a parents parent's request The Uintah School District does docs intend to comply Allow all parents even those not having custody of their children access to each educational record that a school district keeps on their child Having a district policy on how parents can go about seeing specific records Informing all parents what rights they have under the Amendment how they can act acton acton acton on these rights according to school policy and where they can see a copy of the policy Seek parental permission in writing before disclosing any personally identifiable record on a child to individuals other than professional personnel employed in the district TilE THE BUCKLEY Amendment deals with one subject only educational records The purpose was to define who may mayor or may not see them On the one hand the law grants parents guaranteed access on the other hand it takes from the schools the privilege of indiscriminate disclosure According to Patricia Ballinger member of HEW office if a teacher shows her notes to no one they are not con considered an educational record therefore a teacher need not make them available to lo a parent If f however these are part of the students student's file they may be reviewed G Give ce e the notes are shared and kept keit rather than destroyed they are considered part of a students student's educational records Certain records may be destroyed The only time that schools cannot destroy a record is when a request to see It is pending The law does docs not place any restrictions on a schools school's policy polley regarding destruction of records On the positive side many school officials have welcomed the push to clean out records Although it may be a good idea such a cleaning out is certainly not required by law It should be made clear that there is nothing illegal about a teacher or some other educator sharing an educational record with another teacher or school official within the same district without seeking a parentIs parents consent as long as there is a legitimate educational interest involved School districts may send out directory information ie i.e. press releases programs for athletic competition or programs for events honoring social and scholastic achievements that include students names The parent does have a right to object within a reasonable amount of time The regulations permit under specified conditions most of the usual circumstances under which school districts normally share personally identifiable records' records with education of of- Records need to be kept kepton on these requests also Once a parent makes a request the district has to respond within a reasonable amount of time If the district agrees and amends the record nothing further need be done Ifa Ifa If Ifa a district refuses however the parents must be notified of right to a hearing and it must be held within a reasonable time Any person including an official official of of- of the school district may conduct the hearing Outcome of hearing must be reported to parent in writing If parent still disagrees he has right to place that objection into the record The Uintah School District operates for the good of our youth Their records are created for just that purpose Parents are most assuredly a apart apart apart part of this philosophy We are happy to have parents interested interested interested in in- enough to review their childs child's records |