Under FERPA, a school must provide a parent with an opportunity to inspect and
review his or her child’s education records within 45 days following its receipt of
a request. A school is required to provide a parent with copies of education
records, or make other arrangements, if a failure to do so would effectively
prevent the parent from obtaining access to the records. A case in point would be
a situation in which the parent does not live within commuting distance of the
school.
A school is not generally required by FERPA to provide a parent with access to
school calendars or general notices such as announcements of parent-teacher
meetings or extra-curricular activities. That type of information is not generally
directly related to an individual student and, therefore, does not meet the
definition of an education record.
Under FERPA, a school is not required to provide information that is not
maintained or to create education records in response to a parent’s request.
Accordingly, a school is not required to provide a parent with updates on his or
her child’s progress in school unless such information already exists in the form
of an education record.
• To submit a request, please print the form on the following page, fill it
out and hand sign your signature. Send the completed form to SSD’s
student records department by mail, fax or email as noted on the top of the
form.
Note: If the student is over the age of 18, they are required to
sign for themselves unless appropriate guardianship papers are
provided.
Attn: Public Schools – If you are needing to request student
special education records, please disregard this form and
send us a request on your school’s letterhead.
