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## Department	of	Education Fa mily	Policy	Compliance	Office Fa mily	Educational	Rights	and	Privacy	Act (FERP A) Complaint Fo rm The Famil y Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) is the office responsible for administering the Fami ly Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FPCO provides technical assistance to educational agencies and institutions to improve their understanding of and ensure their compliance with requirements concerning student education records under FERPA. FPCO also reviews, investigates, and processes complaints of alleged violations of FERPA filed by parents and eligible students

. FPCO’s authority to investigate , review, and process complaints extends to allegations of violations of FERPA of any recipient of Federal Department of Education funds under a program administered b y the Secretary (e.g., schools, school districts, postsecondary institutions, state educational agencies, and student loan guaranty agencies). Generally, FPCO cannot investigate compl aints against private and parochial elementary and secondary

schools as these schools are not subject to FERPA, unless such private schools receive federal education funds. As fully investigating complaints of alleged violations takes time, we ask that yo u p lease read carefull y all of the following information prior to completing and submitting your complaint form.
Do not use this complaint form to request a response to routine questions about FERPA requirements . Such requests should be made through the Department’s Information Resource Center b y telephone at 1

- 800

- USA

- LEARN, FPCO’s Web site, or by email at FERPA@ED.GOV for school officials and FERPA.CUSTOMER@ED.G OV for parents and eligible students. We encourage individuals, where possible, to submit their routine questions through FPCO’s Web Site at http://family

policy .ed.gov

. If you are an individual with limited Engli sh proficiency and need additional information, please contact the Department’s Information Resource Center by telephone at 1

- 800

- USA

- LEARN

. 

### Who	may	file	a	complaint? The parent of a student or an eligible student that has suffered an alleged violation of his or her rights under FERPA may file a complaint. An “eligible student” is a student who has turned 18 or enrolls in a postsecondary institution at any age. This means that all of the rights afforded parents transfer to the eligible student, including the right to file a complaint. The statute does not provide for these rights to be vested in a third party who has not suffered an alleged violation of their rights under FERPA. Thus, we require that the parent or eligible student have “standing.” This also means that the parent of a postsecondary school student does not have “standing” and may not file a complaint regarding an alleged violation of his or her rights or those of the student. If you are not the parent of a student or an eligible student filing the complaint, we will notify you that your allegation(s) will not be investigated. 

### What	should	I	do	prior	to	filing	a	complaint? Please review the following FPCO guidance on our Web site to determine whether FERPA protections appl y to your situatio n.2



###  The FERPA General Guidance for Parents (http://family policy .ed.gov/content/ferpa

general

- guidance

- parents )

 The FERPA General Guidance for Eligible Students (http://family

policy .ed.gov/content/ferpa

- general

- guidance

- students ) We also recommend you review our Frequentl y Asked Questions (http://family policy .ed.gov/faq

page/ferpa

- parents
- and

- eligible

- students ) for more information regarding your rights under FERPA

. Completing an investigation of your complaint can take time. You may wish to contact your local educational agency

or institution to seek to resolve your concerns in a more timely fashion. 

### How	soon	after	the	alleged	violation	do	I	need	to	file **my	complaint ?**  You must file your complaint within 180 calendar day s after your kn o w or should have known about the violation. If yo ur do not file your complaint within this timeframe, you will be notified that your allegation(s) will not be investigated. 

### What	procedures	does	FPCO	use	when	investigating	my	complaint? If we initiate an investigation, we notify both you and the educational agency or institution. The notice includes the substance of your allegations and requests a written response from the educational agency

or institution addressing the allegations. After completion of an investigatio n, both parties are notified in writing of our findings and the basis of those findings. The FERPA complaint resolution process is designed to identify problems with FERPA implementation in educational agencies and institutions, to ensure they comply with FERPA requirements and act to prevent future violations of FERPA. If a violati on is substantiated, we may require specific corrective action (e.g., revise policy or procedures, or conduct training) to bring the educational agency or institution into comp liance with FERPA requirements. When the educational agency or institution has completed the required corrective action, FPCO closes the complaint. 

### What	information	must	I	submit	regarding	my	allegation? Your FERPA complaint must contain specific allegati ons of fact giving reasonable cause to believe that a FERPA violation has occurred. It em 5 on the complaint form specifically describes the information you must provide if you have been denied access to the student’s education records, i f the student’s education records were improperl y disclosed, or i f your complaint involves requested amendment of education records. 

### How **do	I	file	a	complaint	of	a	violation	of	my	FERPA	rights ?**  If , after carefully

reviewing the guidance, you believe you do have a timel y allegation of a school’s failure to compl y with yo ur rights under FERPA, you should complete this fillable complaint form in its entirety . Please help us assist you in a timelier manner by outlining the relevant facts clearl y and succinctl y . If you have difficulty submitting the form electronicall y, it may be printed and mailed to FPCO at:

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

- 8520.3



### If possible, w e request that you type your responses on to the fillable form as opposed to handwriting your responses. Also, limit yo ur responses to the space provided and onl y submit the requested information supporting your allegation

. You will be contacted i f additional informati on or supporting documentation is needed

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## Notice	about	Investigatory	Uses	of	Personal	Information To resolve your complaint, FPCO may need to collect and analyz e personal information such as yo ur child’s or your education records, or in some instances the education records of other students supplied to us by

the school that are pertinent to the investi gation and resolution of the complaint. Please note that no law requires you to provide FPCO with y our personal information. Furthermore, complainants, other persons such as other family members, witnesses, or other persons are not required by FEPRA to p rovide information during the complaint resolution process. (Please note that these statements do not apply to the educational agency or institution that is the target of the complaint as they are expected to fully cooperate with the investigation.) Howe ver, if FPCO does not receive the information needed to resolve y our complaint, it may

be necessary

to close the complaint and issue findings based on incomplete information. The Privacy

Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552, governs the protection of personally id entifying information contained in records in “sys tems of records” maintained b y Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education. The Privacy Act protects individuals from the misuse of personal information held by the Federal government. I t applies to records that are kept and can be located b y the individual’s name, social securit y number, or other personal identifier. It regulates the collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of certain personal information in the files of Federal ag encies. FPCO may

disclose information without y our consent under one of the 11 instances defined in the Department’s Privacy

Act regulation at 34 C.F.R. § 5b.9(b). The cited regulation can be accessed online at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_98/34cfr5b_98.html . For instance, FPCO may disclose information without y our consent to other employees in the Department of Education w ith a “need to know” to perform their job duties. The Department also has published a system of records notice that covers FERPA complaints that permits FPCO to make any of 9 published “routine use” disclosures without y our consent which can be found at: http://www2.ed.gov/notices/pai/pai

- 18

- 05

- 02.pdf

. One such routine use disclosure permits FPCO to disclose information without your consent to educational agencies and institutions ag ainst which your complaint was filed in order to resolve yo ur complaint. In other words, FPCO may need to reveal certain information to officials at y our school, to verify

facts or gather additional information related to your complaint. A second publishe d routine use disclosure permits FPCO to disclose your information, without y our consent, to a Member of Congress who inquired into y our complaint at your request. **Paperwork Burden Statement** According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of informati on unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. T he valid OMB control number for this information collection is **xxxx -**  **xxxx**
. Th e time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average one hour per response, including t he time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. **If you**  **have any**  **comments concerning**  **the accuracy**  **of the**  **time estimate(s)**  **or suggestions**  **for improving**  **this form,**  **pl ease**  **write to:**  U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202
-4536. **If you**  **have comments**  **or concerns**  **regarding the**  **status of**  **your individual**  **submission of**  **this form,**  **write directly**  **to:** Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202
- 8520.5 

### Department of Education **Family Educational Rights and Privacy**  **A ct Complaint**  **Form** Ma il to: U.S. Department of Education Family Policy Compliance Office  400 Maryland Ave, S W  Wa shington, DC 20202
- 8520 **1. YOUR**  **INFORMATION** First n am e Last n ame

Address Contact p hone 

### ( ) City State Zip Email (optional)
Your relationship to the student whose education records are the subject of this complaint  Parent or l egal g uardian  Self. I am an eligible student. (provide date of birth below)  Other (such as an attorney representing the parent or eligible student)

. Explain:_____________________________________________________

_________________________________ ___ **2. INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDENT WHOSE RECORDS ARE THE SUBJECT OF THIS COMPLAINT**  First n am e Last n ame Date of b irth

**3. INFORMATION ABOUT THE EDUCATION**  **AL AGENCY OR**  **INSTITUTION** Name and t itle of the s uperintendent of the school d istrict or p resident of the college or university , or of the State e ducational a gency (SEA) official if alleging denial to inspect and review education records maintained by the SEA.
Name of e ducational a gency or i nstitution (e.g., s chool d istrict or u niversity) School o fficial ’s p hone number 

### ( ) Mailing a ddress Dates the s t udent attended
City State Zip Date of the claimed violation
Name and title of any school official you have contacted in an attempt to resolve this matter

**4. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE FERPA VIOLATION**  **ALLEG ED?**  The e ducation al a gency or i nstitution listed in section 3 above (check as appropriate)
- 

##  (a) denied me the right to inspect and review education records

. Continue to 5(a) 

##  (b) disclosed the student’s education records or personally

identifiable information from those records

. Continue to 5(b ) 

##  (c) denied me the opportunity to request correction or deletion of

inaccurate or misleading information in an education record or the opportunity to append a stat ement to that education record after a hearing. Continue to 5(c) OMB control #1875

- xxxx6

**5. INFORMATION**  **REGARDING YOUR ALLEGATION** (a) If you have been denied access to the student’s education records : (1) list the records you requested, (2) indicate that the institution or agency maintains the requested records and how the records are ma intained (if known) , (3) provide the date(s) and means by which you requested access ( i nclude a copy of any documentation of the request, if available) , (4) indicate the na me and position of the individua l (s) to whom you made the request for access to records , (5) describe any response received to your request (include a copy of any written response) , or any actions taken by the educational agenc y or institution in response to your request

. (b) If the student’s education records were improperly disclosed , indicate specifically (1) what information was disclosed and when , (2) whether this information is recorded in the student’s education records, (3) the name and title or job function of the school official who made the disclosure , ( 4 ) the individual to whom the disclosure was made and relationship, if any, to the school and to the student , (4) the circumstances under which the disclosure was made, ( 5 ) how and when (date) yo u became aware of the disclosure , (6) a description of any communic ation between you and the disclosing entity regarding this matter (enclose copies of relevant communications )

. (c) If your complaint involves requested amendment of educ ation records : (1) describe the records you seek to amend, (2) the information you want amended and the specific correction you requested , (3) the reason you believe the record is inaccurate or misleading, ( 4 ) the date you requested the amendment, ( 5 ) the name and title of the school official you made the request to, ( 6 ) any response received, and ( 7 ) the result of any hearing held in the matter. All information (a), (b), or (c) above is required. **Limit to the space provided** 

.7

(continued)

**6. DESCRIBE**  **ANY CORRESPONDENCE OR AFFIDAVIT SUBMITTED WITH THIS FORM**  **TO SUBSTANTIATE THE INFORMATION**  **SPECIFICALLY REQU IRED**  **IN 5 ABOVE.**  Do not submit other information or documentation unless it is requested by a FPCO investigator

. Submission of e xtraneous materials may delay FPCO investigation.

**7. CERTIFICATION**  I have read and understand the Notice of Investigatory Uses of Personal Information provided with this form

. I certify that the information I have provided is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. Signature Date