Question
What is FERPA and what information can I share with others?
Answer
FERPA is the law that governs how we share information about children and families. Schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's record. Exceptions exist when appropriate. One exception is sharing information among a multidisciplinary team that works with the same child.
In terms of FERPA, what is ok and not ok to share without consent? Lesson plans are ok to share. They are not specific to children, often, and so they're very open-ended and you can definitely share those with your partners. You should share lesson plans so that partners know what you're working on and they can scaffold and build on it when they work with children.
Child records, on the other hand, should not be shared without consent. They should only be shared with written permission or with someone working directly with that child. If a person is written into that child's IEP or IFSP, then they automatically get access to the child records. You wouldn't want to share records with anyone who isn't directly working with that child, including their physician, family health care provider, or anyone outside of your system. You would need to get permission to share the child's records with them.
Can you share on social media without consent? I strongly believe that if you're using social media to share information about children, you should get written consent. You should send home paperwork at the beginning of the year and say, we're going to be using social media this year. If you don't want your child included in our social media activities, please let us know. If you do want your child included, check this box and sign this paper. Keep documentation of consent, because social media is one of those things that can be very sensitive to families.
Direct communication without consent is another gray area. If you're talking to someone who is already working directly with that child and family, then yes, you may have direct communication with them. If it is not a person who's working directly with that child, or you aren't sure if they have written consent to get the information that you would be sharing, then you should not share it.
Who can you share information with, without consent? You can and should be sharing information with special education partners. They need it, you need it, and you both working together on the child's improvement. Do you need consent to share with a mental health consultant or staff that is unfamiliar with the child or family? Yes, you should only share with the mental health consultant or staff unfamiliar with the child and family with the family's consent. You can only share information with people that are documented as being on that child's case. The bottom line is that you need to make sure that you're very careful about who you share information with and how you share it.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Collaboration to Support Children with Special Needs, by Amanda Schwartz, PhD.
