Wautoma Area School District
Approved 9/12/1985
Revised 03/13/2003; 01/23/2006
The Board will provide annual notice to each parent/legal guardian and adult student a directory of data information and the right of the parent/legal guardian or adult student to refuse to permit the release of any or all specified information. The Board also directs the building administrators to notify students in their respective buildings of this policy at the beginning of each school year.
The notice will read as follows:
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a Federal law, requires that schools, with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child’s education records. However, the Wautoma Area School District may disclose appropriately designated “directory information’ without written consent, unless you have advised the District to the contrary in accordance with District procedures. The primary purpose of directory information is to allow the Wautoma Area School District to include this type of information from your child’s education records in certain school publications. Examples include: a playbill showing your student’s role in a drama production; the annual yearbook; honor roll or other recognition lists; graduation program; and sports activity sheets such as for wrestling, showing weight and height of team members.
Directory information, which is information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released, can also be disclosed to outside organizations without a parent’s prior written consent. Outside organizations include, but are not limited to, companies that manufacture class rings or publish yearbooks. In addition, two federal laws require local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to provide military recruiters, upon request, with the directory information categories, names, addresses, and telephone listings unless parents have advised the LEA that they do not want their student’s information disclosed without their prior written consent. These laws are: Section 9528 of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 7908), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-110), the education bill, and 10 U.S.C. 503, as amended by section 544, the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2002 (P.L. 107-107), the legislation that provides funding for the Nation’s armed forces)
If you do not want the Wautoma Area School District to disclose directory information from your child’s education records without your prior written consent, you must notify the District in writing within 14 school days following your child’s physical placement in the school to keep all or part of said information confidential. The Wautoma Area School District has designated the following information as directory information: student’s name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height or members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, grade level, photographs, degrees and awards received, and the name of the school most recently previously attended by the student.
