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3231P - Student Records Procedure

Student records shall be managed by the District records custodian in the following manner:

Type of Records

Student records shall be divided into two categories: the cumulative file and supplementary records.

The cumulative file may contain all information about a student which is collected and maintained on a routine basis, such as identifying information (name, birth date, sex, year in school, address, telephone number, parent's name, ethnic classification, emergency information [parent's place of employment, family doctor, babysitter, siblings]); attendance records including date of entry and withdrawal; grades and other student progress reports; results of tests of school achievement, aptitude, interests, hearing and vision; health and immunization status reports; records of school accomplishments and participation in school activities; verified reports of misconduct, including a record of disciplinary action taken; and such other information that will enable staff to counsel with students and plan appropriate activities. Identifying information may be limited if the student is a participant in the state Address Confidentiality Program.

Supplementary records may be collected and maintained in connection with special school concerns about the student, such as confidential health information or reports connected with assessment and placement of a student who is formally identified as a “focus of concern;” reports from non-school persons and organizations such as physicians, psychologists and clinics, except for general screening purposes; reports pertaining to specific problems associated with the student; and current reports of psychological tests and progress reports related to a student's disabling condition. All such reports included in records shall be dated and signed.

Working notes of staff are defined as those records about students that are maintained in the sole possession of the writer and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute for that staff member. Working notes are not considered student records under this procedure.

Accessibility of Student Records

Information contained in the cumulative file and/or supplementary records shall be provided to persons and agencies as follows:

Parents

Guardians of dependent children have the right to inspect the cumulative file and/or supplementary records of their children unless a court order is provided that prohibits the release or inspection of student records to a parent. In the absence of a court order, the following shall occur:

  • The parent shall be provided analysis and interpretation by qualified staff of all information in the cumulative file and supplementary records. This action may be initiated by the parent or a staff member. The review shall occur no later than 45 days after the request is made.
  •  Inspection and review shall be conducted during normal working hours, unless the custodian (teacher, counselor, nurse, psychologist, principal) consents to other arrangements. Custodians shall provide assistance in the interpretation and analysis of student records as needed. Although records must remain within District control, they may be copied or reproduced by or for the parent or eligible student at their own expense.

The Student

Information from the cumulative file shall be interpreted to the student upon their request. Information contained in supplementary records shall be interpreted to the student upon their request and with the consent of the parent. An eligible student (a student over the age of 18) may inspect their cumulative file and supplementary records. The right of access granted the parent or eligible student includes the right to be provided a list of the types of student-related education records maintained by the school and the District. The parent and eligible student have the right to inspect or to be informed of the content of any record containing personally identifiable information regarding more than one student, provided that the right to access shall apply only to that portion of the record or document which relates to the student. Upon graduation from high school, a student may request to receive a final transcript in addition to the diploma.

Parents and eligible students shall be notified annually of their right to inspect and review the records of their children and their other rights under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act through the following notice: https://www.isd411.org/about-us/legal-notices.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and eligible students certain rights with respect to the student's education records. They are

  •  The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the District receives a request for access. Parents or eligible students should submit to the District records custodian a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The records custodian will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.
  • The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate or misleading. Parents or eligible students should write the school principal, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it is inaccurate or misleading. If the District decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, the District will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and advise them of their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing.
  • The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. Exceptions which permit disclosure without consent include disclosure to appropriate persons (e.g., law enforcement), and/or agencies deemed by the District as necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals and disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is: a person employed by the District as an administrator, supervisor, instructor, or support staff member (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel); a person serving on the school board; a person or company with whom the District has contracted to perform a special task (such as an attorney, hearing officer, auditor, medical consultant, or therapist); or a parent or student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.
  • The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the District to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

Staff

Staff or other school officials who have a legitimate, educational interest in a student shall have access to the cumulative file and any supplementary records.

Other Districts

Other districts shall be provided with records upon official request. At the time of transfer of the records, the parent or eligible student may receive a copy of the records at his/her expense if requested and shall have an opportunity to challenge the contents of the records. Parents shall be advised through the annual Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook that student records will be released to another school where the student has enrolled or intends to enroll.

Other Persons and Organizations

Prospective employers may request to review the transcript of a student. Each parent or eligible student shall be advised at least annually that such requests shall be honored only upon a signed release of the parent or eligible student. Information contained in the cumulative folder and supplementary records of a student shall be released to persons and organizations other than the student, parent, staff and other districts only with the written consent of the parent or eligible student with the following exceptions:

  • Directory information may be released publicly without consent upon the condition that the parent or eligible student be notified annually of the school's intention to release such information and be provided the opportunity to indicate that such information is not to be released without prior consent. Such information shall not be released for commercial reasons. Directory information is defined as the student's name, photograph, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, dates of attendance, guardian email, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, diplomas and awards received and the most recent previous school attended. Directory information may be used for purposes such as school related fund raising, publication of a student directory, parent organization mailing lists, school yearbooks and newspapers, commencement programs and publications of honor rolls and other school information about student in the public media.

    Residential addresses of participants in the state Address Confidentiality Program will not be available for release as directory information. Social Security numbers, student identification numbers (with authentication factors such as a secret password or personal identification number) or other personally identifiable information are also not considered directory information.
  • Information may be released to authorized representatives of the comptroller general of the United States, the commissioner of education, and/or an administrative head of an education agency or state education authorities in connection with the audit and evaluation of federally supported education programs or in connection with the enforcement of the federal legal requirements for such programs.
  • Information may be released to state and local officials to whom such information is specifically required to be reported or disclosed pursuant to Washington law (examples: reporting child abuse or referrals to juvenile court for truancy).
  • Information may be released to organizations conducting studies for educational agencies for the purpose of developing, validating or administering predictive tests or improving instruction, if such studies are conducted in such a manner as will not permit the personal identification of students and their parents by persons other than the representatives of such organizations and if such information shall be destroyed when no longer needed for the purpose for which it has been gathered.
  • Information may be released in compliance with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena including ex parte court orders under the USA Patriot Act, upon condition that a reasonable effort was made to notify the parent or eligible student in advance of such compliance unless such notice is not allowed by the order or subpoena. In compliance with the federal Uninterrupted Scholar’s Act of 2013, when a parent is a party to a court proceeding involving child abuse or neglect (as defined in Section 3 of the Child Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101) or dependency matters, and the order is issued in the context of that proceeding, the district is not required to provide additional notice (i.e., in addition to the court’s notice) to the parent prior to release of the information.
  • Information may be released to appropriate persons and agencies in connection with an emergency to protect the health or safety of the student or other persons. The District will take into account the totality of the circumstance and determine if there is an articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of the student or other individuals. When information from a student’s record, other than directory information, is released to any person or organization other than staff, a record of such release will be maintained as part of the specific record involved. Telephone requests for information about students will not be honored unless the identity of the caller is known and the caller is authorized to receive the information under provisions of this Procedure. A record will be made of any such release of information and placed in the student’s cumulative file. This record of access will include date of access, name of the party granted access and the legitimate educational interest of the party granted access.
  • In compliance with the federal Uninterrupted Scholar’s Act of 2013, information regarding students in foster care may be released without prior written consent of the parent or eligible student to agency caseworkers or other representatives of state or local child welfare agencies or tribal organizations who are legally responsible for the care and protection of the student, for purposes related to the student’s case plan.

Confidential Health Records

Confidential health records should be stored in a secure area accessible only to the school health care provider, unless an appropriately executed release under Chapter 70.02 RCW has been obtained. Such records also are covered by FERPA, permitting parent access to review and otherwise exercise FERPA rights regarding the records. There is a higher standard of confidentiality and minor student’s rights of privacy for records pertaining to HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, drug or alcohol treatment, mental health treatment, family planning or abortion. The releases for information regarding sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and drug or alcohol treatment are more restrictive than ordinary medical releases.

Amendment of Records and Hearings

At the time of inspection and review, the parent or eligible student may challenge the appropriateness and accuracy of any record directly related to the student and may demand correction or deletion. Custodians (teacher, counselor, nurse, and psychologist) may honor such demands by correcting or deleting records which are misleading, violative of privacy or inaccurate, provided that the senior custodian (principal or department head) concurs.

If the demanded correction or deletion is denied by the senior custodian, the parent or eligible student may request a hearing before the Superintendent or designee, which hearing shall be held within a reasonable time after the receipt of such request. The District shall give the parent or eligible student notice of the date, time and place of the hearing reasonably in advance. During the hearing the Superintendent shall review the facts as presented by the parent or eligible student and the senior custodian and decide whether or not to order the correction or deletion. The Superintendent shall send his/her written decision to the parent or eligible student within a reasonable time following the hearing. The decision will be based solely on the evidence at the hearing and will include a summary of the evidence and the reasons for the decision.

Parents or eligible students challenging the appropriateness and accuracy of student records may insert a written explanation of their objections in such records.

Maintenance of Student Records

The student's principal, counselor or teacher shall be the custodian of the cumulative file. The principal or the student's counselor shall be the custodian of the supplementary records. Duplicate copies of all guidance case study reports and reports from non-school agencies contained in a student's supplementary record may be maintained in the District office under the supervision of the Superintendent.

Custodians will:

  1. Maintain only those records authorized by these procedures;
  2. Safeguard student records from unauthorized use and disposition;
  3. Maintain access to records as set forth in this Procedure;
  4. Honor access requests from parents or eligible students;
  5. Delete or correct records upon approval of the senior custodian or upon order of the Superintendent; and
  6. Follow the records review schedule and procedures established by the senior custodian.

Senior custodians may assume the duties of custodians and shall:

  1. Request student records from other schools;
  2. Maintain security of student records;
  3. Transfer, destroy and expunge records as permitted;
  4. Supervise activities of their custodians;
  5. Conduct informal hearings and grant or deny approval of corrections or deletions requested by parents or eligible students;
  6. Establish records review schedules and procedures for their respective schools or departments in accordance with procedures governing records disposition.
  7. Upon transfer of the student to the next level (elementary to middle school, middle school to high school) or upon graduation or transfer outside the District, remove for retention, preservation or destruction in accordance with applicable disposition procedures any records no longer pertinent to educational program placement; and
  8. Certify to the District records custodian by June 30 of each year the following:
    • Only records pertinent to educational program placement are being maintained, unless otherwise authorized by law, and
    • Required reviews have been accomplished.

The District records custodian shall provide overall supervision of student records management and control and shall enforce this Regulation and Procedure.

The District will use various methods to protect records, including passwords, physical controls (such as locked cabinets), technological controls (such as role-based access controls for electronic records) and administrative procedures.

Disposition of Student Records

The permanent student record shall serve as the record of the student's school history and academic achievement. Permanent records filed in the student's cumulative file are to be extracted and retained before disposition of the file.

Within ten days after receiving a request, the District will furnish a set of unofficial educational records to the parent of a student transferring out of state who meets the definition of a child of a military family in transition. When a student transfers to another school in the District, all records including the permanent student record shall be transmitted to the other school. When a student transfers to a school outside of the District, the senior custodian shall purge the cumulative file of all nonofficial, extraneous information. A copy of all records will be sent to the requesting school. The cumulative file for an elementary or middle school student who leaves the District shall be maintained for two years after discontinuance of enrollment in the District. Cumulative files and supplementary records of high school students will be retained according to the Washington State Records Retention Schedule. In all cases, the student’s permanent record card will be retained in perpetuity by the District.

At the time a student graduates from school or ceases to need special educational services, the parent/guardian or eligible student will be informed that personally identifiable information regarding the disabling condition is no longer needed for educational purposes and that the special education records will be retained by the District for six (6) years before being destroyed pursuant to the Washington State Records Retention Schedule.

When informing the parent or eligible student about his/her rights regarding such records, the District will advise the parent or eligible student that the information may be needed by the student or the parent to establish eligibility for certain adult benefits, e.g., social security and that the parent/guardian/eligible student should ensure that they possess the necessary documentation, or request copies of certain records from the District before the District records are destroyed in six (6) years. At the parent’s/guardian’s or eligible student’s request, the record information relating to the disabling condition will be destroyed, but only after the records have met the six (6) year retention requirement. The District may, in its discretion, choose to retain these records for a longer period of time for business purposes. A parent or eligible student, at his/her expense, may receive a copy of all records to be transmitted to another District.

Large Scale Destruction of Student Records

After exercising care in accordance with the previous section (Disposition of Student Records), the senior custodian shall bundle all records and send them to the District office. Each bundle shall be plainly marked: “Student Records--for Destruction,” dated and signed by the senior custodian. A summary sheet shall be completed and retained in the District office. The sheet shall indicate: “As of this date, I have determined that the following records may be destroyed in accordance with District and state requirements and have submitted them for destruction.” The summary sheet shall be dated and signed by the senior custodian.

Electronic Records

Electronic records (including e-mail and web content) created and received by the District in the transaction of public business are public records for the purposes of RCW 40.14 and will be managed consistent with the laws and regulations governing the retention disclosure, destruction and archiving of public records.

Cut-Off

Whenever applicable, the retention period starts with the “cut-off.” “Cut-off” is a term used to indicate files or records may be terminated on a predetermined date. “Cut-off” prevents current records from attaining unmanageable size and facilitates the filing of new records. Calendar year records may be “cut-off” on December 31, and a new file established on January 1; all fiscal year records can be “cut-off” only upon the completion of an action or event, such as termination of contract, final payment of a contract, termination of employment, etc. Regardless of the duration of the retention period, records series should be kept in the office files after “cut-off” only as long as is necessary to satisfy: (1) active reference; (2) audit, when required; and (3) other operational requirements. Once these three factors have been satisfied, the records should be transferred to a records center or to an appropriate alternative format, including an electronic format, for the remainder of the retention period.

Adopted:

4/1/2001

Last Revised:

03/20/2023

Related Regulation: