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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Government Courses - Another Missing Component in MCPS Education

What has happened to the teaching of US government to our high school children? Do they know that federal laws apply in MCPS schools? Are our children learning from the adults in the school building to follow rules and standards of conduct?

Apparently not if your child attends a school where they post or disclose personally identifiable information that is readily apparent for all to view.

I've seen this first hand at Blair. Every few weeks, our trusted Blair volunteer coordinator puts out a plea for volunteers to help stuff envelopes containing student interim grades for mailing to parents. When I have questioned this practice, I've been told that the letters are folded in such a way that the volunteers do not see the individual score reports, and that even if they view the letters, the parents are acting in accordance with school policies that let them perform these tasks. Pretty feeble justification, in my opinion, especially when the policy requires training of the volunteers, documentation of the hours, and requires that the the principal is responsible for:

Supervising the scheduling of the volunteer, determining the
role of the volunteer, and assuring that the volunteer has no access to
confidential student or personnel information.


Then, a few weeks ago, at Blair, I noticed the public posting of students who were scheduled to sit for the January administration of HSAs. Names, room numbers, and tests to be taken - names of those students who didn't pass the tests when they were administered the previous May. My student's name is not among the ones posted, so I don't have standing to complain. This time Blair administration won't get an e-mail from me - but I hope that some of the parents of kids named on the list will say something.

Is this an isolated practice? No. Just yesterday, I heard of another high school in Bethesda that will be posting names in the school hallways of students who owe financial obligations. I thought that practice was eliminated - after all, didn't Magruder and Richard Montgomery HS also do that a few years ago and were told to stop?

From the Department of Education
website:

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g;
34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

. . .

Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. (34 CFR § 99.31)

What can you do as a parent or student? Call your principal, show him/her the law, assume this is a mistake, but ask to get the information off the wall.

Should they refuse and you want to pursue this further? Contact the Department of Education Compliance office at the information on their website.

For additional information or technical assistance, you may call (202) 260-3887 (voice).

Individuals who use TDD may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

Or you [use] the following address:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-5920

1 comment:

  1. Here is what Blair High School announced a few months ago:
    >
    >> [HOST]Hey Blazers! How are you this morning? Welcome to Infoflow. Today is Tuesday, October 7, 2008

    3- Blazers! If you plan on purchasing Homecoming tickets, all outstanding obligations must be paid by October 17th. Check out the list on the Financial Window to see if you owe any obligations or ask Ms. Franklin during both lunches and after school.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Now see Board of Education President Brandman take what happens at Blair, Blake, Northwood, Richard Montgomery, Whitman, Walter Johnson (id numbers) and other MCPS high schools and spin it for Delegate Feldman. Transcript taken from Nov. 20, 2008 video of hearing before Annapolis delegation.

    Delegate Feldman: " This idea that somehow if there are arrears for fees, somehow they are posted on some school, I mean is that true?"

    Brandman: "I really don't know what that incident refers to, except that I understand that there are times when a high school, for example, might post a list of student ID numbers and ask students to report to an accounting office."

    Delegate Feldman: "OK but to your knowledge there is no posting on school grounds of students and families. I see somebody in the back nodding yes."

    Brandman: "I was told that there was, apparently, at one of our high schools, student names, rather than IDs were posted. But the list simply told students to report to an accounting office, so it wasn't a description of families who aren't paying fees."

    See the full video of this public exchange on the Parents' Coalition website:

    http://www.parentscoalitionmc.com/GuidetoFees.php

    ReplyDelete

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