Confidentiality of Information

Information collected, maintained or used by the district regarding your child with R-CIS must be kept confidential. You have the right to request a list of the types and locations of your child's educational records and a list of any parties who have accessed information in that record. The district must keep a record of parties obtaining access except access by parents and authorized employees of the district, including the name of the party, the date of access, and the purpose for the access. The district must maintain, for public inspection, a current listing of the names and positions of the authorized employees. If any record includes information on more than one child, you have the right to inspect and review only that information which relates to your child.

Information will be maintained and released in accordance with the regulations in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 and the school district may not disclose, without your consent, information from your child's records unless authorized to do so under the FERPA regulations. Your consent must be obtained before such information is disclosed to anyone other than officials of participating agencies collecting or using such data or used for any purpose other than meeting a requirement under IDEA. If you refuse to give your consent the district may invoke due process hearing procedures. If your failure to give consent constitutes neglect under Missouri's Child Abuse and Neglect Laws, the district shall report same to the proper authorities. The school district is not required to obtain your written consent before records are released to a school district to which you plan to transfer your child, to officials in your local district if they need them for educational reasons, or to officials of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Each participating agency shall protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable information at collection, storage, disclosure, and destruction stages. One official at each participating agency shall assume responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information. All persons collecting or using personally identifiable information must receive training or instruction regarding the state's policies and procedures on protection of confidentiality. If you believe that information in these records is inaccurate or misleading, or violates the privacy or other rights of your child, you may request that the district amend the information. The district must decide whether to amend the information within a reasonable period of time. You will be informed of that decision and the district shall advise you of the right to a hearing. The district, upon your request, will provide an opportunity for a hearing to challenge information in the educational records. This type of hearing is conducted according to procedures under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) at 34 C.F.R. 99.22, not under the special education due process hearing system. If, as a result of the hearing, the district decides that the information is inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the privacy or other rights of the child, it will amend the information accordingly and inform you in writing.

If the district decides not to amend the information, it will inform you of the right to place a statement in the record documenting on the information or giving reasons for disagreeing with the district's decision. This explanation must be maintained by the district and if the information is disclosed to any party, the explanation must also be disclosed.

All rights of privacy and educational records indicated herein with regard to parents shall pass to the child upon reaching age 18, except in the case of a child with R-CIS who is legally determined to be incompetent to make such decisions for himself/herself and for whom legal guardianship or conservatorship is required beyond the age of 18. In those instances, the legally established guardian or conservator shall maintain the rights to privacy as outlined above. The parent and child will be notified of the transfer of rights.

The school district is to include in the records of a child with R-CIS a statement of any current or previous disciplinary action that has been taken against the child with R-CIS and transmit the statement to the same extent that the disciplinary information is included in, and transmitted with, the student records of non-disabled children. The statement may include a description of any behavior engaged in by the child R-CIS that required disciplinary action, a description of the disciplinary action taken, and any other information that is relevant to the safety of the child with R-CIS and other individuals involved with the child. If the child with R-CIS transfers from one school to another, the transmission of any of the childâ€™s records must include both the child's current IEP and any statement of current or previous disciplinary action that has been taken against the child.