Opinion ID: 795746
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: FERPA's Interaction with the Federal P&A Statutes

Text: 35 We finally consider whether FERPA operates to prevent DPI from releasing the records it has assembled. FERPA represents a response to what Congress saw as growing evidence of abuse of student records in the United States. See, e.g., Rios v. Read, 73 F.R.D. 589, 597-99 (E.D.N.Y.1977). Of specific concern were incidents of access without informed parental consent, lack of a formal system for governing access by nonschool personnel and failure to disclose disciplinary information to parents. Address to the Legislative Conference of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, March 12, 1975, 121 Cong. Rec. S7974 (daily ed. May 13, 1975). 36 Relevant here, FERPA protects personally identifiable information other than directory information from release without parental consent. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(1)-(2) (2006). Personally identifiable information includes, but is not limited to, the students' names, names of their parents or other family members, the addresses of the students or their family, any personal identifiers such as social security numbers or student numbers, a list of personal characteristics that would make the students' identities easily traceable or any other information that would make the students' identities easily traceable. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 C.F.R. § 99.3 (2006). Directory information, on the other hand, is a type of personally identifiable information not usually considered harmful if disclosed. It generally includes (but is not limited to) students' names, addresses, telephone numbers, major fields of study and dates of attendance. 34 C.F.R. § 99.3. 37 Here again, the information that DRW seeks is not easily classified. The students' names would, in ordinary circumstances, fall under the rubric of directory information. But as we explained earlier, the students' names here carry with them information about the students' IEPs and disciplinary records, which ordinarily might implicate FERPA if released to third parties. 38 This case, however, is not ordinary. As the Eleventh Circuit has recognized, neither students with disabilities nor their parents are harmed when a P&A agency is permitted access to records. Tarwater, 97 F.3d at 497-99. On the contrary, the P&A agency's access facilitates protection of individuals with mental illness — it is the only way to realize the agency's role as watchdog of the system. Privacy interests, then, are frequently outweighed by DRW's broad mandate to investigate and remedy suspected abuse or neglect. Ala. Disabilities Advocacy Prog., 97 F.3d at 497; Office of Prot. and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities v. Armstrong, 266 F.Supp.2d 303; 319, 322 (D.Conn.2003). 39 We note in closing that the details of release of information are important but difficult to anticipate and deal with. They therefore lie within the discretion of the district court. This case is complex, and although the students' privacy interests do not outweigh DRW's need to access the information, neither should those interests be ignored when they are implicated. In that vein, we recognize that a number of specific release scenarios which would be consistent with this opinion would, we think, satisfy the federal P&A statutes.