Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 154 / Monday, August 11, 2003 / Notices 47555 

during the last hour of operation (that is, 

for any period of time between 3:30 and 

4:30 p.m., Washington, DC, time) on the 

application deadline date. 

The Department must acknowledge 

and confirm these periods of 

unavailability before granting you an 

extension. To request this extension or 

to confirm the Department’s 

acknowledgement of any system 

availability, you must contact either (1) 

The person listed elsewhere in this 

notice under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

CONTACT or (2) the e-GRANTS help desk 

at 1–888–336–8930. 

You may access the electronic grant 

application for the GPA Program at: 

http://e-grants.ed.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lungching Chiao, U.S. Department of 

Education, International Education and 

Graduate Programs Service, 1990 K 

Street, NW., Suite 6066, Washington, 

DC 20006–8521. Telephone: (202) 502– 

7624 or via Internet: 

lungching.chiao@ed.gov. 

If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD), you may call 

the Federal Information Relay Service 

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339. 

Individuals with disabilities may 

obtain this document in an alternative 

format (e.g., Braille, large print, 

audiotape, or computer diskette) on 

request to the program contact person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

CONTACT. 

Individuals with disabilities may 

obtain a copy of the application package 

in an alternative format by contacting 

that person. However, the Department is 

not able to reproduce in an alternative 

format the standard forms included in 

the application package. 

Electronic Access to This Document 

You may view this document, as well 

as all other Department of Education 

documents published in the Federal 

Register, in text or Adobe Portable 

Document Format (PDF) on the Internet 

at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/ 

legislation/FedRegister. 

To use PDF you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1– 

888–293–6498; or in the Washington, 

DC, area at (202) 512–1530. 

You may also view this document in 

PDF at the following site: http:// 

www.ed.gov/offices/HEP/iegps/. 

Note: The official version of this document 

is the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the Code 

of Federal Regulations is available on GPO 

Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Program Authority: 22 U.S.C. 2452. 

Dated: August 6, 2003. 

Sally L. Stroup, 

Assistant Secretary, Office of Postsecondary 

Education. 

[FR Doc. 03–20434 Filed 8–8–03; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services, Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Notice of a new system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 

(Privacy Act), the Department of 

Education (Department) publishes this 

notice of a new system of records for 

tracking telephone calls and 

correspondence from State personnel 

and parents about disability issues 

related to children with disabilities. 

DATES: The Department seeks comments 

on the new system of records described 

in this notice, in accordance with the 

requirements of the Privacy Act. We 

must receive your comments on or 

before September 10, 2003. 

The Department filed a report 

describing the system of records covered 

by this notice with the Chair of the 

Senate Committee on Governmental 

Affairs, the Chair of the House 

Committee on Government Reform, and 

the Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) on August 6, 2003. This system 

of records will become effective at the 

later date of—(1) The expiration of the 

40-day period for OMB review on 

September 15, 2003 or (2) September 10, 

2003, unless the system of records needs 

to be changed as a result of public 

comment or OMB review. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about 

this system of records to Larry Wexler, 

Deputy, Monitoring & State 

Improvement Planning Division, Office 

of Special Education, Office of Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services, 

U.S. Department of Education, 400 

Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3630, 

Mary E. Switzer Building, Washington, 

DC 20202. If you prefer to send your 

comments through the Internet, use the 

following address: comments@ed.gov. 

You must include the term ‘‘OSEP 

TRACKING SYSTEM’’ in the subject 

line of the electronic comment. 

During and after the comment period, 

you may inspect all comments about 

this notice in room 3630, Mary E. 

Switzer Building, 330 C Street, SW., 

Washington, DC, between the hours of 

8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Eastern time, 

Monday through Friday of each week 

except Federal holidays. 

Assistance to Individuals With 

Disabilities in Reviewing the 

Rulemaking Record 

On request, we will supply an 

appropriate aid, such as a reader or 

print magnifier, to an individual with a 

disability who needs assistance to 

review the comments or other 

documents in the public rulemaking 

record for this notice. If you want to 

schedule an appointment for this type of 

aid, please contact the person listed 

under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

CONTACT. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Larry Wexler. Telephone: (202)–205– 

5390. If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD), you may call 

the Federal Information Relay Service 

(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339. 

Individuals with disabilities may 

obtain this document in an alternative 

format (e.g., Braille, large print, 

audiotape, or computer diskette) on 

request to the contact person listed in 

the preceding paragraph. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction 

The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)) 

requires the Department to publish in 

the Federal Register this notice of a new 

system of records maintained by the 

Department. The Department’s 

regulations implementing the Privacy 

Act are contained in the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) in 34 CFR part 5b. 

The Privacy Act applies to a record 

about an individual that contains 

individually identifiable information 

that is retrieved by a unique identifier 

associated with each individual, such as 

a name or social security number. The 

information about each individual is 

called a ‘‘record,’’ and the system, 

whether manual or computer-based, is 

called a ‘‘system of records.’’ The 

Privacy Act requires each agency to 

publish notices of systems of records in 

the Federal Register and to prepare 

reports to OMB whenever the agency 

publishes a new or altered system of 

records. Each agency is also required to 

send copies of the report to the chair of 

the Senate Committee on Governmental 

Affairs and the chair of the House 

Committee on Governmental Reform. 

47556 Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 154 / Monday, August 11, 2003 / Notices 

Electronic Access to This Document 

You may view this document, as well 

as other Department of Education 

documents published in the Federal 

Register in text or Adobe Portable 

Document Format (PDF) on the Internet 

at the following site: http://www.ed.gov/ 

legislation/FedRegister. 

To use PDF you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll-free, at 1– 

888–293–6498; or in the Washington, 

DC, area at (202) 512–1530. 

Note: The official version of this document 

is the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the official 

version of the Federal Register and the Code 

of Federal Regulations is available on GPO 

Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Dated: August 6, 2003. 

Robert H. Pasternack, 

Assistant Secretary for Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services. 

For reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Assistant Secretary for 

Special Education and Rehabilitative 

Services (OSERS) of the U.S. 

Department of Education (the 

Department) publishes a notice of a new 

system of records to read as follows: 

18–16–01 

SYSTEM NAME: 

OSEP Customer Service Tracking 

System. 

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: 

None. 

SYSTEM LOCATION(S): 

Monitoring and State Improvement 

Planning Division, Office of Special 

Education Programs (OSEP), Office of 

Special Education and Rehabilitative 

Services (OSERS), Mary E. Switzer 

Building, 330 C Street, SW., Room 3630, 

Washington, DC 20202. 

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE 

SYSTEM: 

This system covers parents, 

advocates, State personnel and other 

third parties who contact OSEP with 

inquiries or complaints related to 

special education. OSEP staff, especially 

the Customer Service Specialists (CSS), 

receive letters, e-mails, facsimiles and 

telephone calls from State personnel 

and parents about disability issues 

related to children with disabilities. 

These complaints and inquiries are 

tracked by an electronic system that 

maintains customer demographic data, 

as well as information on the content of 

the complaints and inquiries. The 

system also allows OSEP to maintain a 

detailed history of the interactions 

between callers and/or writers and the 

CSS. 

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

This system consists of records 

relating to inquiries or complaints made 

to OSEP staff, including but not limited 

to: the writer’s and/or caller’s name; the 

name, age and type of disability of the 

child about whom the writer/caller is 

inquiring about; the writer’s or caller’s 

address, including an e-mail address; 

the school district involved in the 

inquiry or complaint; the writer’s or 

caller’s phone number; the issue that the 

writer and/or caller is raising; a 

recommendation from the CSS for 

further action; and comments from the 

CSS. 

This notice does not cover records, 

including but not limited to letters, emails and facsimiles, sent by 

individuals to the Secretary, Deputy 

Secretary, Senior Officers such as the 

Assistant Secretary of OSERS and the 

Director of OSEP for whom the 

Department controls responses to such 

inquiries. Further, this notice does not 

cover the official correspondence files of 

OSEP, specifically the hard copies of 

official documents and electronic 

images of certain incoming and outgoing 

documents. These records are 

considered covered by the Department’s 

system of records 18–01–01, Secretary’s 

Communication Control System. 

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM: 

Title I of the Individuals with 

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as 

amended, 20 U.S.C. Section 1402. 

PURPOSE(S): 

This system of records is maintained 

to provide its customers (parents, 

advocates and others) with more 

responsive, consistent service; to better 

track the large number of calls and other 

inquiries received; to provide trend 

analysis by issue; to develop a profile of 

the issues that arise in a certain State; 

to assist OSEP as a management tool in 

the preparation of reports, and to 

monitor State implementation of the 

IDEA. 

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE 

SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND 

THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES: 

The Department of Education 

(Department) may disclose information 

contained in a record in this system of 

records under the routine uses listed in 

this system of records without the 

consent of the individual if the 

disclosure is compatible with the 

purposes for which the record was 

collected. These disclosures may be 

made on a case-by-case basis or, if the 

Department has complied with the 

computer matching requirements of the 

Computer Matching and Privacy 

Protection Act of 1998, under a 

computer matching agreement. 

(1) Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Advice Disclosure. The 

Department may disclose records to DOJ 

and OMB if the Department seeks 

advice regarding whether records 

maintained in the system of records 

must be released under the FOIA and 

the Privacy Act of 1974. 

(2) Disclosure to the DOJ. The 

Department may disclose records to the 

DOJ to the extent necessary for 

obtaining DOJ advice on any matter 

relevant to an audit, inspection, or other 

inquiry related to the programs covered 

by this system. 

(3) Contract Disclosure. If the 

Department contracts with an entity for 

the purposes of performing any function 

that requires disclosure of records in 

this system to employees of the 

contractor, the Department may disclose 

the records to those employees. Before 

entering into such a contract, the 

Department shall require the contractor 

to maintain Privacy Act safeguards as 

required under 5 U.S.C. 552a(m) with 

respect to the records in the system. 

(4) Litigation and Alternative Dispute 

Resolution (ADR) Disclosures. 

(a) Introduction. In the event that one 

of the following parties is involved in 

litigation or ADR, or has an interest in 

litigation or ADR, the Department may 

disclose certain records to the parties 

described in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) 

of this routine use under the conditions 

specified in those paragraphs: 

(i) The Department, or any of its 

components; or 

(ii) Any Department employee in his 

or her official capacity; or 

(iii) Any Department employee in his 

or her official capacity where the DOJ is 

requested to provide or arrange for 

representation of the employee; 

(iv) Any Department employee in his 

or her individual capacity where the 

Department has agreed to represent the 

employee; or 

(v) The United States where the 

Department determines that the 

litigation is likely to affect the 

Department or any of its components. 

(b) Disclosure to the DOJ. If the 

Department determines that disclosure 

of certain records to the DOJ is relevant 

and necessary to litigation or ADR, and 

is compatible with the purpose for 

which the records were collected, the 

Department may disclose those records 

as a routine use to the DOJ. 

(c) Adjudicative disclosures. If the 

Department determines that disclosure 

Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 154 / Monday, August 11, 2003 / Notices 47557 

of certain records to an adjudicative 

body before which the Department is 

authorized to appear, an individual or 

entity designated by the Department or 

otherwise empowered to resolve or 

mediate disputes is relevant and 

necessary to the litigation or ADR, the 

Department may disclose those records 

as a routine use to the adjudicative 

body, individual, or entity. 

(d) Parties, counsels, representatives 

and witnesses. If the Department 

determines that disclosure of certain 

records to a party, counsel, 

representative or witness is relevant and 

necessary to the litigation or ADR, the 

Department may disclose those records 

as a routine use to the party, counsel, 

representative or witness. 

(5) Research Disclosure. The 

Department may disclose records to a 

researcher if an appropriate official of 

the Department determines that the 

individual or organization to which the 

disclosure would be made is qualified to 

carry out specific research related to 

functions or purposes of this system of 

records. The official may disclose 

records from this system of records to 

that researcher solely for the purpose of 

carrying out that research related to the 

functions or purposes of this system of 

records. The researcher shall be 

required to maintain Privacy Act 

safeguards with respect to the disclosed 

records. 

(6) Congressional Member Disclosure. 

The Department may disclose records to 

a Member of Congress from the record 

of an individual in response to an 

inquiry from the Member made at the 

written request of that individual. The 

Member’s right to the information is no 

greater than the right of the individual 

who requested it. 

(7) Enforcement Disclosure. In the 

event that information in this system of 

records indicates, either on its face or in 

connection with other information, a 

violation or potential violation of any 

applicable statute, regulation, or order 

of a competent authority, the 

Department may disclose the relevant 

records to the appropriate agency, 

whether foreign, Federal, State, Tribal, 

or local, charged with the responsibility 

of investigating or prosecuting that 

violation or charged with enforcing or 

implementing the statute, Executive 

order, rule, regulation, or order issued 

pursuant thereto. 

DISCLOSURES TO CONSUMER REPORTING 

AGENCIES: 

Not applicable to this system of 

records. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, 

RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND 

DISCLOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

STORAGE: 

The information in the tracking 

system will be stored on a server 

maintained by the Department of 

Education. Records generated by the 

system will be maintained electronically 

on the server. 

RETRIEVABILITY: 

This system will only be accessible to 

Departmental contractors and 

employees of OSEP. Each record in this 

system can be retrieved by entering in 

any of the categories of information 

listed under the ‘‘Categories of Records 

In This System’’ in this notice. 

SAFEGUARDS: 

The primary users of this system, 

Monitoring and State Improvement 

Planning Division (MSIP) employees in 

OSEP, will enter a unique user ID as 

well as a password to enter the system. 

This user ID and password will be in 

addition to the user ID and password 

that all Department employees must 

enter to access the Department’s 

computer system. Users will be required 

to change their passwords periodically, 

and they will not be allowed to repeat 

old passwords. Any individual 

attempting to log on who fails is locked 

out of the system after three attempts. 

Access after that time requires 

intervention by the system manager. 

The computer system employed by 

the U.S. Department of Education offers 

a high degree of resistance to tampering 

and circumvention. This security 

system limits data access to Department 

and contract staff on a ‘‘need to know’’ 

basis and controls individual users’ 

ability to access and alter records within 

the system. 

The location of the server includes 

safeguards and firewalls, including the 

physical security of the server room. In 

addition, the server is located in a 

secure room, with limited access only 

through a special pass. Further, all 

physical access to the site where the 

server is maintained is controlled and 

monitored by security personnel who 

check each individual entering the 

building for his or her employee or 

visitor badge. 

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL: 

Records in this system will be 

retained in accordance with the 

National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA) General 

Records Schedule 20, Item 1.c which 

provides disposal authorization for 

electronic files and hard-copy printouts 

created to monitor system usage. 

Records will be deleted or destroyed 

when the agency determines they are no 

longer needed for administrative, legal, 

audit, or other operational purposes. 

SYSTEM MANAGERS AND ADDRESS: 

Deputy, MSIP Division, Office of 

Special Education Programs, Office of 

Special Education and Rehabilitative 

Services, U.S. Department of Education, 

Mary E. Switzer Building, Room 3630, 

330 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 

20202. 

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE: 

If you wish to determine whether a 

record exists about you in the system of 

records, provide the system manager 

with your name or your child’s name 

and your address. Your request for 

notification must also meet the 

requirements of the regulations at 34 

CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity. 

You may also present your request in 

person or make your request in writing 

to the system manager at the above 

address. 

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES: 

Request to access a record must also 

reasonably specify the record contents 

sought and otherwise meet the 

requirements of the regulations at 34 

CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity. 

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: 

If you wish to change the content of 

a record in this system of records, you 

must contact the system manager at the 

above address and follow the steps 

outlined in the Notification procedure. 

Requests to amend a record must also 

reasonably identify the record, specify 

the information being contested, 

provide in writing your reasons for 

requesting the change, and otherwise 

meet the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7. 

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES: 

Information in this system is obtained 

from parents, advocates, and other third 

parties that contact OSEP with concerns 

or complaints related to special 

education. 

SYSTEM EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS 

OF THE ACT: 

None. 

[FR Doc. 03–20435 Filed 8–8–03; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P