Student information is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Florida Statutes and Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) Board Policies. These resources afford parents/guardians and students who are 18 years of age or older (eligible students) certain rights with respect to the student's education record. 

Under FERPA, the term "education records" is defined as, "Those records that are: (1) directly related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a party acting for the agency or institution" (See 20 U.S.C. §1232g). Florida Statute 1003.25 requires principals to maintain permanent cumulative records for all students enrolled in a public K-12 school. Florida law also dictates the content and format of the student record. A student’s education record includes, but is not limited to, personally identifiable data (social security number, address, birth date, sex, and race); academic records; results reports from interest inventories and/or standardized intelligence, aptitude, and psychological tests; attendance records; and health data. The record also may contain family background information or other records pertaining to the student, such as extracurricular activities, discipline, honors and awards, enrollment history, and a list of schools attended.

Parents and eligible students have the right to:

•  Inspect and review the education record within 30 days after the school receives a written request to access the record.
• Receive a copy of the record.  A reasonable fee not to exceed 15 cents per page is allowed for copies.  An additional 5 cents per page may be charged for two sided copies. 
• Request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible student believes are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA.
• Provide written consent before the school discloses personally identifiable information from the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
• File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the school to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

Parents or eligible students who wish to inspect education records should submit a written request to the school principal/designee that identifies the records they wish to inspect. The principal/designee will make arrangements to access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. DCPS staff must comply with the education records request within 30 days.

Parents or eligible students who ask the school to amend the education records should submit a written request to the school principal/designee clearly identifying the part of the record they want changed and specify why it should be changed.

All parents, whether married, divorced, separated, or never married, have the legal right to access any and all information contained in the child's permanent cumulative folder and other education records pertaining solely to the student, unless prohibited by law, or a court order exists to prevent the parent from doing so. Moreover, a stepparent has rights under FERPA, if the stepparent is present in the home on a day-to-day basis with the parent and child, and the other parent is absent from the home. In such cases, both the stepparent and parent have the same rights under FERPA. Conversely, a stepparent who is not present in the home on a day-to-day basis with the student has no rights under FERPA with respect to the child’s education records.

Likewise, school officials with legitimate educational interest may have access to a student's education records.  A school official generally includes a person employed by the school district as an administrator, supervisor, instructor, support staff (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel), or a person serving on the school board.  A school official generally has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record to fulfill her, his, or their professional responsibilities.

With some exceptions (listed elsewhere in this FAQ) no one else may gain access to the student’s permanent cumulative records without written consent of the parent or eligible student. Understand, however, that “directory information” can be made available for broad categories of students.

Directory information is information contained in the education record of a student that generally would not be considered harmful, nor an invasion of privacy, if disclosed. It includes, but is not limited to: name; address; telephone number (if listed); electronic mail address; photograph; date and place of birth; age; awards; schools attended; major field of study; grade level; participation in officially recognized activities and/or sports; weight and height, if a member of an athletic team; dates of attendance at schools in the District and degrees and awards received; name of the last educational agency or institution attended; and the student ID number, user ID, or other unique personal identifiers used to communicate electronically in the student information systems (identifiers that cannot be used to access education records without a PIN, password, etc.); furthermore, a student’s social security number (SSN), whether in whole or part, cannot be used for this purpose.

Duval County School Board Policy 5.71 – Directory Information reads, in part, that directory information may only be released to “… the United States Military, universities, colleges, the Florida Department of Health, and the Jacksonville Public Library." Parents may opt to have NO directory information released by completing and submitting the Directory and Information Release form with their request. The form is part of the Student Records brochure.” The School Board may waive this policy as it deems necessary.

Should a parent elect to preclude the release of her, his, or their student’s directory information, the District will not publish the student's information in public documents. As a result of the parent’s request, the student’s information will not be published in the yearbook, graduation programs, athletic programs, honor rolls, and/or other publications containing the education records of the student.

FERPA permits the disclosure of personally identifiable information (PII) from student’s education records, without consent of the parent or eligible student, if the disclosure meets certain conditions found in 34 CFR 99.31 of the FERPA regulation.  A school may disclose PII from the education records of a student to the following parties without obtaining prior written consent of the parent* or eligible student:

• Other school officials in connection with a student’s application for/receipt of financial aid.
• Parents of an eligible student if the student is a dependent for IRS tax purposes.
• Other school officials who have legitimate educational interests or whose job requires them to work with student records. Note: The District uses contractors, consultants, volunteers, and approved service providers as school officials to provide certain institutional services and functions.
• Other educational agencies or institutions that have requested the records, and in which the student seeks or intends to enroll or is already enrolled, so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student’s enrollment or transfer.
• Accrediting agencies.
• School boards or their designees holding expulsion hearings.
• Appropriate parties in connection with an emergency to protect the health/safety of the student.
• Legal authorities with a subpoena or court order, provided the school official notifies the parent or eligible student in writing in advance of compliance, unless otherwise ordered under a law enforcement subpoena.
• Parties to an interagency agreement among the Department of Juvenile Justice, school, and law enforcement authorities, and other signatory agencies in a joint effort to improve school safety, to reduce truancy and suspensions, to support alternatives to suspensions and expulsions, and to support students in successfully completing an education program.
• The Florida Department of Children and Families, in connection with a child abuse, neglect or abandonment investigation, pursuant to Florida Statutes and the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
• The Florida Department of Children and Families pursuant to the Uninterrupted Scholars Act.
• U. S., state, or local educational authorities that are authorized by statute to receive such information, which often is a requirement for monitoring program eligibility.
• Authorized representatives of the court in a matter related to the school district instituting legal action against a parent or student, or a parent or eligible student initiating legal action against a school district.
• Researchers who do not identify students.

The information above is made available to students and parents at the beginning of each school year via Focus in a parent's account.

Parents and eligible students have the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by a school to comply with the requirements of FERPA and/or PPRA. Complaints must be submitted in writing to the Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) and can be sent via U.S. Mail or Email to:

U.S. Department of Education

Student Privacy Policy Office

400 Maryland Ave, SW

Washington, DC 20202-8520

For information and instructions, visit: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov