5016

Student Records

The school district shall manage student records and reports as is necessary for effective administration and in compliance with law. In general "student records" shall not include transitory communications such as e-mail, text messages, handwritten communication between school and home, and the like, and these items will not generally be maintained by the district. “Student records” also shall not include any records created and maintained by the district’s law enforcement unit for a law enforcement purpose.

For purposes of the district’s compliance with state and federal law, the district “maintains” student records which are printed and kept in the student’s physical file or which school district staff have intentionally saved within the official school district digital student information system that specifically identifies the student for whom those records are maintained. The school district may also use learning management systems, which deliver and manage instructional content. The school district maintains student records within its student information system but not in its learning management system. The official school district student information system is INFINITE CAMPUS.

Each building principal will assign responsibilities for the preparation and maintenance of records and will ensure compliance with the applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and record retention schedules regarding their storage and use in the building. No “student record” or record required to be retained by the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Record Retention Schedules applicable to the district will be destroyed unless it is first saved in a retrievable, digital format. This includes only records required to be kept by the applicable Retention Schedules and “student records” as defined by state and federal law, and this policy does not prohibit the district from following its record expungement procedures for all other records.

Students or their parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or school administrators shall have access to the school's files or records maintained concerning themselves or their students. For purposes of this policy, “teachers” include paraeducators and volunteers who are providing educational services to a student on behalf of the School District. A school official may access, maintain, and use education records containing personally identifiable information (PII) when he or she has a legitimate educational interest in such. “School official” includes any agent, volunteer, or contractor performing an institutional service or function for which the school would otherwise use its own employees and who is under the school district’s direct control with respect to their access to, maintenance of, and use of PII from student records. For example, a school official may include, but would not be limited to, a teacher or other educator, administrator, supervisor, instructor, or support staff member (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel); school board member; volunteer; contractor or consultant who, while not employed by the school, performs an institutional service or function for which the school would otherwise use its own employees and who is under the direct control of the school with respect to the use and maintenance of PII from education records, such as an attorney, representative of the district’s insurance providers, auditor, medical consultant, therapist, or a third-party website operator who has contracted with the school district or its agent to offer online programs for the benefit of students and/or the district; members of law enforcement acting on behalf of the school district; a parent or student volunteering to serve on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee; or a parent, student, or other volunteer assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks. A school official typically has a “legitimate educational interest” if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill a school-related professional, contractual, statutory, or regulatory responsibility.

All disciplinary material shall be removed and destroyed upon the pupil's graduation or after the pupil's continuous absence from the school for a period of three years, and after authorization is given by the State Records Board pursuant to state law. Upon request, the school district will disclose education records without consent to officials of another school district in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.

Outside agencies such as physicians, probation officers, psychologists, child guidance clinics, and other agencies concerned with child welfare who are working directly with a child may have access to information pertaining to that child with written parental consent or upon issuance of a valid court order.

The school district shall share student data, records, and information with school districts, educational service units, learning communities, and the State Department of Education to the fullest extent practicable unless otherwise prohibited by law. This includes sharing information with the Department of Education necessary to comply with the requirement of state law that all third-year high school students take a college entrance exam. Any redisclosure of information related to the administration of this exam shall be governed by the agreement between the Nebraska Department of Education and the third-party testing company.

Each year, the school district will notify parents and guardians of their rights under this policy and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Adopted on: January 7 2007

Revised on: July 21, 2008

Revised on: August 19, 2013

Revised on: August 15, 2016

Revised on: June 17, 2018

Revised on: June 15, 2020