Appendix B: S.A. v. Tulare County Office of Education Emails are Not Educational Records if they are “Not Printed and Placed” in a Student’s File regulations require an educational agency to maintain a student's final grades, attendance records, and applicable health records. *6 The parties dispute whether emails containing information that personally identifies Student were "maintained" by TCOE. Student argues that TCOE "maintains" all email documents that are kept in a central email server or that exist in the individual email inboxes of TCOE staff. California DOE points out that Student asserts that TCOE maintains emails in a central email server and individual email inboxes "without substantiation." California DOE, Opp., 4. California DOE argues that Student "cannot state that the emails were in fact maintained. This is a factual issue that must be established without dispute in order for this court to consider it in making any determination regarding the application of the law." Id . In addition, California DOE submits that TCOE "maintained" only those emails that were printed out and placed in a Student's file in hard- copy format. Neither party attempts to define the term "maintain" through statute, regulation or case law. In Owasso Indep. Sch. Dist. No I-011 v. Falvo , 534 U.S. 426 (2002), the United States Supreme Court interpreted the definition of the word "maintain" under FERPA. In ruling that peer-graded assignments are not "maintained" as education records within the meaning of FERPA, the Court reasoned: The ordinary meaning of the word "maintain" is "to keep in existence or continuance; preserve; retain." Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1160 (2d ed. 1987). Even assuming the teacher's grade book is an education record — a point the parties contest and one we do not decide here — the score on a student-graded assignment is not "contained therein," § 1232g(b)(1), until the teacher records it. The teacher does not maintain the grades while students correct their peers' assignments or call out their own marks. Nor do the student graders maintain the grades within the meaning of § 1232g(a)(4)(a). The word "maintain" suggests FERPA records will be kept in a filing cabinet in a records room at the school or on a permanent secure database, perhaps even after the student is no longer enrolled. The student grades only handle assignments for a few moments as the teacher calls out the answers. It is fanciful to say they maintain the papers in the same way the registrar maintains a student's folder in a permanent file. Owasso , 534 U.S. at 432-33 (emphasis added). The Court further considered the meaning of the term "maintain" within the context of the overall statutory scheme: FERPA, for example, requires educational institutions to "maintain a record, kept with the education records of each student." § 1232g(b)(4)(A). This record must list those who have requested access to a student's education records and their reasons for doing so. Ibid. The record of access "shall be available only to parents, [and] to the school official and his assistants who are responsible for the custody of such records." Ibid.
BP 2001 – Confidentiality and Student Records
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Desert Mountain Charter Special Education Local Plan Area (DMCS) (rev. 11/16)
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