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ACLU Memo Urging the Miami-Dade School Board to Rethink Proposal to Release Student Information to Military, College Recruiters
To: Members of the Miami-Dade School Board
From: Lida Rodriquez-Taseff, President Greater Miami Chapter
Rosalind Matos, South Florida Staff Counsel
Howard Simon, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida
Re: Proposed Amendment of Board Rule 6Gx13-5B1.07, Student Records
Date: January 14, 2003
The Greater Miami Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida urges the Miami-Dade School Board not to approve the proposed amendment to the Rules on Student Records and to delay passage until the Board is able to secure further advice from the District's staff and Legal Counsel. We urge this course of action because, in our view, the proposed amendment fails to comply with federal law and does not adequately protect the privacy rights of parents and students of the Miami-Dade School District.
Privacy rights are among the most precious rights we hold in Florida and the United States. Our State Constitution emphasizes the extent to which Floridians value the right to privacy ("Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person's private life except as otherwise provided herein." Florida Constitution, Article 1, Section 23).
In order to comply with federal law, and before private information about any Miami-Dade County Public School student is surrendered to the public domain, students and parents should be fully informed about which information will become publicly available "to any individual, agency, or organization."
The proposed Amendment to the Rules on Student Records is ostensibly designed to comply with two federal statutes: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. ? 1232g(a)(5)(B) and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. No. 107 ? 110).
Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), parents and students are entitled to decide whether to permit school officials to release any or all student directory and contact information to anyone who requests it. Students and parents have a right under this federal statute to be fully informed about their right to withhold disclosure of such information and to be afforded an opportunity to exercise that right in as easy a manner as possible.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a secondary school student or parent "may request that a student's name, address, and telephone listing ? not be released [to the military or schools of higher education] without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request."
We urge the Miami-Dade School Board to not approve this item and to defer action on it for the following reasons:
(1) The proposed Directory Information Opt-Out form violates FERPA because it fails to afford parents the right to prevent the disclosure of "any or all of the information designated" by Miami-Dade County Public Schools as "directory information."
The Act clearly contemplates that parents may prevent the disclosure of some categories of information (such as unlisted phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc.) while permitting the disclosure of other categories of information.
(2) The proposed amendment to the District's current rules broadens the categories of directory information that may be released about a student. However, the forms to be sent to parents and students do not reveal the extent of the information that will be routinely disclosed. Under the proposed amendment, information about students that may be routinely released includes the following: name, address, telephone number [whether listed or unlisted], date and place of birth, dates of attendance, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, degrees and awards received, most recent previous educational agency or institution attended, electronic mail address, and photograph.
While FERPA gives school districts the discretion to define directory information, the proposed amendment to the Miami-Dade District's rule adds a student's unlisted telephone number, e-mail address and photograph as new elements of an already very broad definition of Directory Information. This over-inclusive definition of Directory Information, which defines information that will be routinely released, does not adequately protect the privacy of Miami-Dade students.
Under the proposed amendment, students and parents will only be informed that "directory information" may be released. We question whether parents want the e-mail address and picture of their child publicly available to anyone who wants it, whether parents want their unlisted phone number available to the public, or, given the strong international make-up of Miami-Dade County and the very real concern about discrimination based upon national origin, whether parents and students want their place of birth available to the general public ? to "any individual, agency or organization."
The proposed amendment permits all of this information to be released indiscriminately, without adequate notification to parents and students about the breadth of the information to be disclosed, or that it can be disclosed, unless they take affirmative steps to prevent it.
(3) The proposed Directory Information Opt-out Form violates the NCLB Act because it fails to afford parents the option of withholding the disclosure of student contact information (viz., name, address and telephone number) from military recruiters or institutions of higher education, or both.
(4) The proposed Directory Information Opt-Out Form and accompanying letter do not adequately inform parents and students about current federal law and their rights under the law. The Form and the accompanying letter should be written in plain and simple language, so that parents and students can understand their rights and make an informed decision.
Because of the failure of the policy to adequately address substantial privacy concerns, as well as the amended policy's failure to adhere to federal law, the Miami Chapter of the ACLU of Florida calls upon the Board not to approve the proposed amendment and to defer consideration of it until the Board is able to receive further advice from staff and the District's legal department regarding the points we have raised in this memo.
