If your school is subpeonaed by a court order , it must try to notify your parents first before releasing your records. And in some states, only school superintendents are allowed to release this information. The only time a school is allowed to release your records without getting your parents' permission is in emergency situations where the information is necessary to protect your health and safety, or that of other students. While much of the information in student records is quantitative stuff, like your score on a standardized test, a great deal of it may be totally subjective such as what an educator thinks about your development or behavior. And some of it may even be totally unrelated to your academic and developmental growth and unflattering, embarrassing or even harmful to have in your official records .
Educators can be just as biased as anyone else.
If there is information you or your parents consider to be inaccurate, irrelevant or unfair, there are ways to try to get it changed or deleted. You and your parents have the right to meet with school officials to request any part of your records be changed. If they refuse to do so, you have the right to a formal hearing before an impartial third party where you can tell your side of the story. Even if the decision is not to change the record, you and your parents have the right to place a statement in the record saying you find the entry inaccurate or unfair. This becomes a permanent attachment to the record, and must be released along with any future requests for the record itself.