FERPA: What It Is and How It Affects Your Child's Education

Discussion Replies: FERPA 

1 

You are right; the challenges on FERPA regulations are varied from both the school and the parents’ side. FERPA rules and regulations are not known to every parent; therefore, some will always be on the other side of the law. It is then the role of the one in charge to tell them what is legal and what is not, when getting academic information from the school. While other parents are just stubborn and like to intrude, they even go behind their children’s backs to get their information. In Ephesians 6:1, the bible advises children to obey their parents, yet some parents lead in breaking the law and lying to their children. For example, when a parent pretends to be a student on a phone appointment or takes students’ money from their accounts for other businesses, how will they demand good morals from their children? FERPA should have strict measures for parents who violate their rights and the rights of students just because they are paying for tuition fees. 

References 

Edwards, T. (2018). I would like to request your academic records: FERPA protections and the Washington public records act.  Washington Law Review, 93 , 1057. 

Essex, N. (2016).  School law and the public schools: A practical guide for educational leaders  (6th edition). Pearson. 

2 

FERPA regulations are varied, and they vary concerning the position one holds in the lives of students. It separates the roles and hence the regulations of the student, eligible students, parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators. Proverbs 22: 6 says, “train children in the right way and they shall not leave it.” FERPA gives parents the right to check their children’s education records but not counselors’ notations on the same students. The regulations give the counselor a right to the notes and documents without giving their parents access. Counselors’ notes are crucial and personal to every student; therefore, the in-charge has to keep them safe and away from other students’ reach. It would be so bad for students to hear their information from other people when deciding to confide in a counselor. FERPA has different parameters to classify students to separate the eligible from the ineligible students even if they join post-secondary institutions early. 

References 

Essex, N. (2016).  School law and the public schools: A practical guide for educational leaders  (6th edition). Pearson 

Gearhart, J. A. (2005). School records and case notes.  Connections, 17 , p. 1-2.