A Guide to FERPA for Colleges and Universities

Postsecondary officials are regularly asked to balance the interests of safety and privacy for individual students. While the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) generally requires institutions to ask for written consent before disclosing a student’s personally identifiable information, it also allows colleges and universities to take key steps to maintain campus safety. Understanding the law empowers school officials to act decisively and quickly when issues arise.

Health or Safety Emergency

In an emergency, FERPA permits school officials to disclose without student consent education records, including personally identifiable information from those records, to protect the health or safety of students or other individuals. At such times, records and information may be released to appropriate parties such as law enforcement officials, public health officials, and trained medical personnel. See 34 CFR § 99.31(a)(10) and § 99.36. This exception to FERPA’s general consent rule is limited to the period of the emergency and generally does not allow for a blanket release of personally identifiable information from a student’s education records. In addition, the Department interprets FERPA to permit institutions to disclose information from education records to parents if a health or safety emergency involves their son or daughter.

Disciplinary Records

While student disciplinary records are protected as education records under FERPA, there are certain circumstances in which disciplinary records may be disclosed without the student’s consent. A postsecondary institution may disclose to an alleged victim of any crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense the final results of a disciplinary proceeding conducted by the institution against the alleged perpetrator of that crime, regardless of whether the institution concluded a violation was committed. An institution may disclose to anyone—not just the victim—the final results of a disciplinary proceeding, if it determines that the student is an alleged perpetrator of a crime of violence or non-forcible sex offense, and with respect to the allegation made against him or her, the student has committed a violation of the institution’s rules or policies. See 34 CFR §§ 99.31(a)(13) and (14).

The Clery Act

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act requires postsecondary institutions to provide timely warnings of crimes that represent a threat to the safety of students or employees and to make public their campus security policies. It also requires that crime data be collected, reported, and disseminated to the campus community and to the Department annually. The Clery Act is intended to provide students and their families with accurate, complete, and timely information about safety on campuses so that they can make informed decisions. Such disclosures are permitted under FERPA. The following Web site provides more information about these and other provisions about campus safety: http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/campus. html.

Law Enforcement Unit Records

Many colleges and universities have their own law enforcement units to monitor safety and security in and around campus. Institutions that do not have specific law enforcement units may designate a particular office or school official to be responsible for referring potential or alleged violations of law to local police authorities. Investigative reports and other records created and maintained by these law enforcement units are not considered education records subject to FERPA. Accordingly, institutions may disclose information from law enforcement unit records to anyone, including outside law enforcement authorities, without student consent. See 34 CFR § 99.8.

While an institution has flexibility in deciding how to carry out safety functions, it must also indicate in its policy or in the information provided to students which office or school official serves as the college or university’s “law enforcement unit.” (The institution’s notification to students of their rights under FERPA can include this designation. As an example, the Department has posted a model notification on its Web site at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid /fpco/ferpa/ps-officials.html.)

Law enforchttp://web.archive.org/web/20170607081415/https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/ps-officials.htmlement unit officials who are employed by the college or university should be designated in the institution’s FERPA notification as “school officials” with a “legitimate educational interest.” As such, they may be given access to personally identifiable information from students’ education records. The institution’s law enforcement unit officials must protect the privacy of education records it receives and may disclose them only in compliance with FERPA. For that reason, it is advisable that law enforcement unit records be maintained separately from education records.

Disclosure to Parents

When a student turns 18 years old or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, all rights afforded to parents under FERPA transfer to the student. However, FERPA also provides ways in which schools may share information with parents without the student’s consent. For example:

• • Schools may disclose education records to parents if the student is a dependent for income tax purposes.

• • Schools may disclose education records to parents if a health or safety emergency involves their son or daughter.

• • Schools may inform parents if the student who is under age 21 has violated any law or its policy concerning the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance.

• • A school official may generally share with a parent information that is based on that official’s personal knowledge or observation of the student.

FERPA and Student Health Information

Postsecondary institutions that provide health or medical services to students may share student medical treatment records with parents under the circumstances described above. While these records may otherwise be governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the HIPAA Privacy Rule excludes student medical treatment records and other records protected by FERPA. The Department plans to issue further guidance on the interplay between FERPA and HIPAA.

FERPA and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)

FERPA permits institutions to comply with information requests from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) in order to comply with the requirements of SEVIS. Officials who have specific questions about this and other matters involving international students should contact the U.S. Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office.

Transfer of Education Records

Finally, FERPA permits school officials to disclose any and all education records, including disciplinary records, to another institution at which the student seeks or intends to enroll. While student consent is not required for transferring education records, the institution’s annual FERPA notification should indicate that such disclosures are made. In the absence of information about disclosures in the annual FERPA notification, school officials must make a reasonable attempt to notify the student about the disclosure, unless the student initiates the disclosure. Additionally, upon request, the institution must provide a copy of the information disclosed and an opportunity for a hearing. See 34 CFR § 99.31(a)(2) and § 99.34(a).

Contact Information

For further information about FERPA, please contact the Family Policy Compliance Office or visit its Web site.

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave. S.W.
Washington, DC 20202-5920
202-260-3887

For quick, informal responses to routine questions about FERPA, parents may also e-mail the Family Policy Compliance Office at FERPA.Customer@ED.Gov.

For inquiries about FERPA compliance training, e-mail FERPA.Client@ED.Gov.

Additional information and guidance may be found at FPCO’s Web site at: http://www. ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html.

Under current guidelines sanctioned by the United States government, there are 27 doses of immunization and vaccination shots a child should receive by his or her second birthday party.  This might seem like an incredibly large number of shots to be giving to the littlest, most delicate children but public health officials consider the recommended series of vaccines to be vital to eradicating and preventing some diseases once known as childhood killers.

The more kids in a family, the more complicated the mission of the parents to maintain the proper schedule for immunization and vaccination for each and every single child.  They grow so fast, time for a booster shot comes around so quickly.

When immunization and vaccination booster shots are missed, immunity to disease is diminished.  When an initial vaccine is missed, the child has no immunity at all to the ravages of the disease or diseases in question.

Each time immunization and vaccination boosters are missed, it is important to take the vaccine even if it is late and out of schedule.  The child’s pediatrician will need to re-calculate the correct dosage and formula according to many factors, including your child’s age, weight, time elapsed since last vaccine, and the vaccine itself.  The missed vaccine may be delayed even further, if the pediatrician’s calculations say it’s better to wait till the next round of vaccines are due.

Formulating missed immunization and vaccination booster shots is tricky business, due to the many, many differences in growing toddlers.  Thankfully, a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology has come up with a computerized tool developed to help pediatricians and parents stay on track with these life-saving vaccines.

The vaccine calculator works online and is accessible to both doctor and parent.  Each time a child is vaccinated, his or her vaccination records are edited to include the very best time to schedule the next booster, all things considered.  For every child and for every vaccine.

The immunization and vaccination schedule recommended today includes protection against diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type B, Hepatitis types A and B, measles, meningitis, mumps, pertussis, polio, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, and varicella.

Recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate about 28% of all American toddlers haven’t been fully vaccinated.

An article in the December 2007 issue of the medical journal, Pediatrics, voices concern over the increasing number of children who are developing allergies to peanuts.  Many of them are showing symptoms of peanut allergy at a significantly younger age than children of the 1990s.

Lead researcher, Todd D. Green, MD, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues, examined medical records of children diagnosed with peanut allergy from the 1990s to 2006.  Some alarming findings:

—  In 1990s, age when child first ate peanuts:  22 months;
—  In 2000s:  14 months.

—  In 1990s, age when first bad reaction to peanuts was noted:  24 months;
— In 2000s:  18 months.

Children often outgrow their peanut allergy without any medical intervention.  One theory as to why this happens is that children’s immune systems strengthen as the child grows but also as the child is exposed to more environmental elements of daily living.  As he or she gets bigger, little things like peanuts don’t seem to be such a bother anymore.

For this reason, a growing number of pediatricians is urging parents to wait until a child is at least three years old before introducing peanuts into the diet, especially if the child or either parent has a family history of peanut allergies.  The idea is that, by age three, the child’s immune system is probably strong enough to allow peanuts without triggering any peanut allergy symptoms.  The effect is thought to be life long.

To provide the most protection possible, women should avoid eating peanuts during pregnancy and nursing, especially if there is a history of peanut allergies in her family.

Symptoms of peanut allergy often become apparent as soon as ten minutes after eating peanuts.  Immediate medical treatment is advised if the child is experiencing his first allergic reaction or if the severity of his allergies is such that his life may be jeopardized.

Peanut allergy symptoms frequently begin as atopic dermatitis, one form of eczema that signals food allergies.  Some children experience gastrointestinal distress and others develop breathing difficulties.

The breathing difficulties are caused when the immune system responds to the peanut allergy by closing the airway in the throat.  The dangerously swollen tissue lining the airway blocks breathing to such a degree that a child can die from anaphylaxis shock.  Anaphylaxis shock can kill a person of any age within minutes.  It is vitally important to seek emergency medical assistance immediately.

For one reason or another, fruit juice has acquired a bad reputation as a source of nutrition for children.  In fact, fruit juice is sometimes blamed for the epidemic of obesity that is endangering the lives of our children at an alarming rate.

The truth of the matter, however, is that fruit juice is an excellent source of nutrition for children of all ages and is associated with a better diet and healthier lifestyle in general.

The trick to drinking juice and not gaining excess weight is to make sure the juice your child drinks is 100% fruit juice.  And nothing more.

There is little to claim as nutrition in a beverage made of high-fructose corn syrup, other sugars, and food dyes, colors, and additives even when the label reads 100% fruit juice.  There may be no more than a drop or two of 100% fruit juice in a can or bottle of a beverage casting the illusion that it’s healthy when, in fact, it isn’t.  Advertising pays off in the beverage business and identifying even microscopic quantities of a single healthy ingredient on the label is legal, although misleading, and it makes people feel good about buying it.

There is little or no level of nutrition in these artificially sweetened and chemically flavored beverages.  They satisfy no nutritional needs, leaving the child still hungering for the missing nutrients.  This leads to excessive hunger, which leads to excessive weight, which leads to a life-long array of medical woes.

Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine recently studied the diets of 3,618 children aged 2 to 11.  They found the average child drank 4.1 fluid ounces of 100% juice, or just over half a cup, each day.  Four ounces of 100% juice is a nutritional powerhouse, with very few calories, no fat, and no artificial stuff to reverse the nutrient quality.  All that for just 58 calories.

According to the Baylor research, the children who drank 100% juice were not more likely to be overweight than children who didn’t drink juice, nor were they more likely to reach for unhealthy foods.  Juice-loving children have a tendency to enjoy eating whole fruits and vegetables, too.

Dietary recommendations and guidelines for optimum nutrition during childhood are developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who recommends children drink 4 to 6 ounces of 100% fruit juice every day until they turn seven years old.  At age seven, the AAP recommends doubling intake of 100% fruit juice.

Kids are eager for instant gratification.  A favorite candy bar tastes great right now.  One last story before bedtime right now.  A new toy from the supermarket.  Right now.

Exercise is something most American children need more of but it’s almost impossible to sell them on the value of exercise as a means of instant gratification.  After all, the only instant returns on an exercise session are fatigue, sore muscles, and a lot of perspiration.

The gratification may come sooner than later, however, when regular exercise becomes a part o a child’s life at an early age.  A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) monitored 400 children from the time they were just entering school until they became teenagers.  The researchers claim their research proves early childhood exercise makes for a healthier teenager.

In the UNC study, all children were enrolled while attending grade school.  Their aerobic fitness and activity levels were assessed and each child was weighed, measured, body mass index (BMI) calculated.  Blood pressure and cholesterol levels were recorded.

Seven years later, the entire regimen of tests and measurements was done again.  Researchers were astounded by the findings.

The children with the most inactive, or sedentary, lifestyles were at significantly greater risk for developing metabolic syndrome.  Metabolic syndrome has long been considered a disease of overweight, middle-aged people at high risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Children getting the lowest level of exercise, identified in the study as fewer than 20 minutes of daily exercise, were at significantly higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome than their schoolmates who exercised more.  The inactive lifestyle during early childhood raised the risk of disease during the teen years by five or six times.

Close to 5% of the sedentary children had already developed at least three of the risk factors associated with metabolic disorder.  Those risk factors include:

• Obesity.
• High blood pressure.
• Low levels of the good (HDL) cholesterol.
• Glucose intolerance.
• Elevated triglyceride levels.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children of every age enjoy at least one hour of exercise, at a moderate rate of intensity, every day for optimum health during childhood and beyond.

After a certain age, everyone knows what cirrhosis of the liver is.  It’s a disease that alcoholics get.  Drug users can get it too, especially when they enjoy playing with needles.  It’s a disease that is spoken of in whispers and behind closed doors.  It’s a shameful disease that strikes sad people. 

Perhaps the saddest development of all is that an alarming number of American children and teenagers are developing cirrhosis, too.  It’s just one heart-breaking aspect of the childhood obesity epidemic that is sweeping the United States and many industrialized nations around the world.

The childhood obesity epidemic is fueled by the typical American childhood diet.  This diet is sky-high in fats and loaded with sugars and other refined and over-processed ingredients that exert too much stress on the liver to process effectively for long.  Just as with the alcohol and the IV drugs, excessive fats and sugars wreak havoc on the liver’s ability to clear toxins from the body.

An internal medicine professor at the St. Louis University Liver Center, Brent Tetri, MD, fed laboratory mice a diet based on the typical diet eaten by American kids today.  The diet included 40% fat and high-fructose corn syrup was used liberally.  To replicate the lifestyle of the average American child, the mice were kept sedentary during the four weeks of the study.

In just one month, the mice produced liver enzymes that signal liver damage.  They also exhibited symptoms of glucose intolerance, a condition that is indicative of type II diabetes.

Researchers in Sweden used real, adult, humans to further test the health benefits of the diet attributed to childhood obesity.  These 18 healthy, slim adult volunteers dined on only fast foods for a month and minimized physical activity as much as possible.

How did the adults fare?  Enzymatic evidence of liver damage appeared during the first week.  By the end of the month, the average study participant had gained 12 pounds.

With increasing scientific evidence pointing to childhood obesity, a diet high in fats and artificial sugars, and a growing rate of cirrhosis of the liver in American children, parents are urged to get their child’s liver enzymes tested as a regular part of a childhood physical exam.  Such tests are routine in adult physical exams but the disease has, until recently, been so rare in children that it’s never been a standard part of medical protocol.

Autism is once again in the news.  And well it should be.  Diagnosis of this truly heartbreaking disease is coming with more frequency than ever before.  Treatment options are lackluster.  A cure is not in sight and the disorder’s origin is under increasingly heated debate.

Autism is both heartbreaking and devastating.  Heartbreaking because it strikes in early childhood.  And it strikes with devastating symptoms that vary wildly from one autistic child to the next.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) have recently explored the connection between the mental health of parents who have a child diagnosed with autism and the likelihood that they’re offspring will develop autism.  They scrutinized the records of 1,237 autistic children for comparison against the records of 30,925 children without the disorder.  For research purposes only, the mark of mental illness in a parent was defined as one that required hospitalization at some point during life, either before or after the birth of the autistic child.

The research team discovered that a parent with schizophrenia is twice as likely to have a child with autism than a parent without a history of mental illness.  Mothers who battle depression and some personality disorders are also more likely to give birth to children who develop autism.  There is no increased likelihood of autism in his offspring, however, when a father suffers from the same personality disorders and depression.

This UNC study on autism and parental mental health used records dating from 1977 to 2003.  The study group consisted of children who had been diagnosed with autism before their tenth birthdays. 

There is no conclusive answer thus far as to what, exactly, is the cause of autism nor is there a universally accepted reason for the rise in diagnoses in recent years.  Autism is a very complicated disorder and its cause is proving to be just as complicated.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a baffling diagnosis because it comes only when a seemingly healthy infant is laid down for a nap or at bedtime no different from all the other naps and bedtimes that have come before.  The terribly baffling part of a SIDS diagnosis is that it comes only after that seemingly healthy sleeping baby fails to wake up.

SIDS is no less baffling for the medical community than it is to grieving parents and family members.  SIDS is a diagnosis given when no other cause of death can be found during autopsy or other post-mortem examinations.

In recent years, we’ve been urged to be frugal about the fluffy pillows, blankets, and toys we place in a sleeping baby’s bed.  Too much soft bedding can strangulate a sleeping baby who doesn’t yet have the strength to turn his or her head in a different position for freer breathing.

We’ve been advised repeatedly that smoking is linked to SIDS.  Fathers who smoke should seriously consider quitting before the baby’s born, if not before the pregnancy begins.

Babies born to mothers who smoke are at very high risk of dying from SIDS, much more so than babies born to mothers who don’t smoke.  Behavioral and developmental problems are also associated with the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy and/or after the birth of the child.

British researchers have recently announced the possibility of yet another cause of SIDS – two very common bacteria.  Of 365 cases studied, almost half of them, 181 of the 365, involved the presence of Staphylococcus aureaus and E. coli.

The research team, from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, doesn’t know if the bacteria are solely responsible for the SIDS diagnoses or if the bacteria intensify the ill effects of underlying conditions that were not detected earlier.

At the most recent annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sam was introduced.

Sam is the creation of a team of researchers at the  Center for Technology and Social Behavior, a part of Northwestern University.  The research team calls him a “virtual peer,” developed to explore social interactions with autistic children.

Sam is a programmable, life-size, animated “child”  that is capable of relating to autistic children on several levels of proficiency and function.  Researchers are finding that, as a child becomes more comfortable “playing” with Sam, they gain social skills that transfer to all their social interactions, even those outside the research center.

High-functioning autistic children are often quite vocal, showing exceptional eloquence when speaking of a favored subject, be it trains, volcanoes, or cows.  Their social skills, those needed to seek and maintain pleasant relationships with the people in their environment, are often lacking, however.  This social inhibition can hinder advancement in other areas.

The Northwestern research team has worked thus far with Sam and six high-functioning autistic children ranging in age from 7 to 11.  The children visit Sam in a safe, inviting environment where researchers are monitoring and recording the child’s interactions with Sam.

Their behaviors with Sam are then compared to similar interaction with a real child.  The research is already indicating that the children are exhibiting a higher level of social skills when working with Sam and these same skills are being carried over into the activities with the real child.

The research team says pairing autistic children with a technological tool like Sam is an ideal situation.  As a rule, autistic children seem to be genuinely fascinated by technology.

There’s a lot of talk going around lately about special needs children.  These children, or their parents, are commanding special classrooms, special schoolhouses in some cases, special doors, sidewalks, tutors, and all sorts other things.  They should have those special things.  Especially if those special things enhance their education or quality of life at school, home, and at play.

But aren’t all children special needs children of a sort?  What about the child who needs to have drum lessons because his best friend is taking them?  And the child who needs a new outfit to wear to school at least once every, single week?  Or the one who is so special that she only eats foods that are white so very special care must be made when packing her lunch?  Deny these requests and the reasons for their special-ness will flow like a fountain.

Special needs children aren’t just those struggling with physical, mental, or developmental issues.  Every child is unique, with special needs as unique as the child.

When it’s the creative and artistic nature of a child that is the gift, he or she will excell in a learning environment designed to stimulate these talents and learn alongside other special needs children of similar performance levels.

Scholars of mathematics and the sciences are often considered special needs children, especially in joking fashion by their peers.  After all, conversations with these deep and abstract thinkers can seem like speaking a foreign language.

Most schools and parents alike encourage the special needs children with exceptional athletic abilities.  Stadiums, baseball fields, swimming pools, and room for lots of adoring spectators are part of school campuses everywhere.

Got kids?  They’re all special needs children.  Just ask them.