The Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and students 18 years of age or over ("eligible students") certain rights with respect to the student's education records. These rights are:
1) The right to inspect and review the student's education records within a reasonable period of time, but in no case more than 45 days after the initial request is made. Parents or eligible students should submit to the school principal a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The administration will make arrangements for access and review and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.
2) The right to request an amendment of the student's education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student's privacy rights under FERPA.
Parents or eligible students who wish to ask the school to amend a record should write to the school principal, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the school decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, the school 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.
3) The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA and applicable law authorizes disclosure without consent.
The District is permitted to disclose education records to school officials with legitimate educational interests without consent. A school official is a person employed by the school 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 school has contracted as its agent to provide a service instead of using its own employees or officials (such as an attorney, 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 or function within the district.
4) Parents/Guardians and eligible students have the right to obtain a copy of the Morgan County R-II School District Policy JO-1 and its Administrative Procedures JO-1-AP(1) and JO-1-AP(2), which is located on the District website’s Board of Education page (see Policies) which contains all the exceptions permitting disclosure of student education records without consent.
Board Policy JO-1; Administrative Procedures JO-1-AP-1 & JO-1-AP(2).
5) The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the school district to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue,
SW Washington, DC 20202-5920
(1-800-872-5327)
Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), certain information about students has been designated as “Directory Information.”
The Morgan County R-II Board of Education, in Policy JO-1, has identified directory information that includes, but is not limited to: Student's name; date of birth; parents' names; grade level; enrollment status (e.g., full-time or part-time); student identification number; user identification or other unique personal identifier used by the student for the purposes of accessing or communicating in electronic systems as long as that information alone cannot be used to access protected educational records; participation in district-sponsored or district-recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; athletic performance data; dates of attendance; degrees, honors, and awards received; artwork or coursework displayed by the district; schools or school districts previously attended; and photographs, videotapes, digital images, and recorded sound unless such records would be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy.
Per Board Policy KI the, “In general, the district will not collect, disclose or use personal information from students for the purpose of marketing or selling that information or otherwise providing that information to others for that purpose unless required by law. For the purposes of this policy, "personal information" means individually identifiable information, including a student's or parent's first and last name, a home or other physical address, a telephone number and Social Security number.
In the rare case where the district may collect or disclose students' personal information or allow another group or entity to collect or disclose students' personal information for the purpose of marketing or selling that information, the district will directly notify the parents/guardians in accordance with law at least annually at the beginning of the school year of the specific or approximate dates when such information will be collected. Parents/Guardians, upon request, may inspect any instrument used to collect personal information for the purpose of marketing or selling that information before the instrument is administered or distributed to a student. All parents/guardians and students of appropriate age may decline to provide the information requested.
This portion of the policy does not apply to the collection, disclosure or use of personal information collected from students for the exclusive purpose of developing, evaluating or providing educational products or services for or to students or educational institutions, to the extent allowed by law and Board policy.”
The Morgan County R-II School District may disclose this directory information without a parent’s consent.
This information is requested annually, and must be renewed annually. If you do not want this information released, you have the right to refuse its disclosure. You may do this by providing the district with written notice of the information you do not want to be shared about your child(ren). Attached to this letter is a “Refusal to Permit Disclosure Form.”
Only return the attached form if you wish to have specific information regarding your child excluded.
• Names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, email address: If you choose to exclude any of this information for your child, it will not be printed in any class-type lists and the yearbook. This would exclude your child from being included in the yearbook, on lists for Valentine’s Day, birthday announcements, PTO lists, etc. If your phone number is shown as private (unlisted) in our student management system, it will not be included in directory information.
• Degrees and awards received: This information would include activities such as winning any awards or receiving any recognitions, winning/receiving scholarships. Information published for Honors Night would also fall into this category. If you choose to exclude this for your child, any awards received by your child will be excluded from any district publications and/or awards ceremonies.
• Photographs: This includes any/all photographs taken at school. If you choose to exclude this for your child, his/her picture will NOT appear in any district publication, including the yearbook (this is the official school yearbook photograph taken by the contracted photographer) and/or team pictures, district social media, district website, and/or local newspaper. This does not include candid shots taken at public events or referencing those photographs in the index of the yearbook. NOTE: If a parent has a situation in which exclusion of a child's photograph is critical, please contact their building principal or email the Communications Specialist at communications@versaillestigers.org.
It is important to note that the district does provide a separate media agreement as part of the annual online registration process. If you ONLY wish to not allow your student to be posted via district social media, the district website, or the local newspaper, you would complete the media agreement form. You would not need to complete the Refusal to Permit Disclosure form.
• Military Recruiters: Military recruiters may request names, addresses and phone numbers of high school students. You may exclude your child’s information from being released to the military by checking the appropriate box.
Refusal to Permit Disclosure forms need to be signed, dated, and returned to the main office of your child’s school by Friday, September 1, 2024. Again, only return this form if you wish to have information about your child excluded. If you have any questions, please contact the Student Information Systems Coordinator at 573-378-4145.
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