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Student records, personal information to be released to the CPA
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Because of a Court order issued to the Concerned Parent Association (CPA) and Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association (MHCPA) on May 5, 2014, California students’ personal information such as Social Security numbers, home addresses, and course information, and reports of suspensions or expulsions along with their health and mental health records will soon be released to the CPA, a nonprofit organization that represents children with special needs.
“We seek to have the California Department of Education (CDE) enforce the federal laws that students with disabilities receive an appropriate education. Schools should help students with disabilities and include them in all aspects of education,” the CPA said.
In 2012, MHCPA alongside the CPA filed a lawsuit against the CDE, alleging that the CDE was not providing free and proper public education for California’s children with special needs in violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by not implementing the rights for special needs children corresponding its obligations under the law.
According to the CPA, “…Many parents have experienced districts attempting to provide their child with speech and language services instead of the more costly Individualized Education Program (IEP). Other parents have had difficulty receiving an appropriate assessment of their child or securing appropriate educational services, especially if those services have involved high costs.”
With these scenarios of parents of special needs children, the CPA is recruiting more parents who have experienced similar struggles of getting their children an education.
“Many parents have had trouble getting appropriate behavioral support plans – a fact that has impeded their child’s educational progress in a significant way. We have seen many parents of young children who have lost their IEPs upon entering first grade and for whom it has then taken years to regain a proper IEP,” the CPA said. “Other parents have joined us because they became frustrated with due process hearings, or were threatened with due process proceedings themselves.”
The CPA will have access to California students’ information who started school beginning January 2008. However, many parents are concerned about the release of their children’s personal information.
The CPA cleared up the confusion of what information would be available to them to access and stated the information that they will be granted.
“We do not want your child’s social security number. CDE has represented that Social Security numbers may be included in some databases, which they will be producing in their entirety,” the CPA said. “This information takes the form of several large databases. CDE has represented that these databases may include information such as student demographic information, school district, and special education accommodations.”
The information is permitted through the IDEA and Family and Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The Court mentioned that “no student’s identifying records will be disclosed to the public.”
“We have to look at this issue as we look at all issues: what is best going to serve the student’s interests. On face value, I’m not too sure how some or all of that information can be beneficial to the student if the information is exchanged with an outside group,” Assistant Principal of Student Services Robby Jung said. “However, going back to my first statement that we always need to do what is best for students, my feeling is that allowing a free-flow of private information such as social security numbers could potentially do more harm than good, especially if that information fell into the wrong hands.”
Jung expressed his thoughts on the possible transaction of San Gabriel students’ records and information to the CPA.
“I do know that currently, information about students, including personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers, are not shared with anyone other than the student or the legal guardian of that student,” Jung said. “My philosophy in this office when it comes to these matters is ‘better safe than sorry.’ Again, this comes from the foundation that we all work for the success of the student.”
Students and parents are able to raise objections to the release of California students’ records and information by filling out a form on the CDE website.
