Privacy Issues In Education Staff Records

1 Oona CheungCouncil of Chief State School OfficersData Confidentiality Task ForceNational Forum on Education Department of EducationRichard W. RileySecretaryOffice of Educational Research and ImprovementC. Kent McGuireAssistant SecretaryNational Center for Education StatisticsGary W. PhillipsActing CommissionerThe National Center for Education Statistics NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting,analyzing, and reporting data related to Education in the United States and other nations. Itfulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of Education in the United States; conduct and publish reports andspecialized analyses of the meaning and significance of such statistics; assist state and localeducation agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on educationactivities in foreign activities are designed to address high priority Education data needs; provide consistent,reliable, complete, and accurate indicators of Education status and trends.

2 And report timely,useful, and high quality data to the Department of Education , the Congress, the states,other Education policymakers, practitioners, data users, and the general strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If you have any comment or suggestions about thisor any other NCES product or report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to:National Center for Education StatisticsOffice of Educational Research and Department of Education555 New Jersey Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20208-5574 February 2000 The NCES World Wide Web Home Page is: Department of Education . National Center for Education Statistics, Privacy Issues inEducation Staff Records : Guidelines for Education Agencies,by Oona Cheung.

3 NCES , DC: ordering information on this report, Department of EducationED Box 1398 Jessup, MD 20794-1398Or call toll free 1-877-4ED-PUBSC ontact:Lee M. Hoffman(202) 219-1621iPrivacy Issues in Education Staff RecordsAcknowledgments .. iiiChapter 1. Overview .. 1 Other Resources .. 2 Chapter 2. Open Government versus personal Privacy .. 3 Overview .. 3 Federal Laws .. 3 Guidelines .. 5 Trustee of Records .. 5 Public Agency .. 5 Public record .. 6 Personnel File .. 6 personal Privacy Interest .. 6 Clearly Unwarranted Invasion of personal Privacy .. 7 Chapter 3. Access to and Release of Staff Records .. 8 Overview .. 8 Commonly Asked Questions.. 8 Guidelines .. 11 Providing Internal Access and Use .. 11 Managing the Release Outside an Agency .. 12 Evaluating a Request .. 12 Documenting Requests and Release .. 14 Chapter 4.

4 Collection and Maintenance of Staff Records .. 15 Overview .. 15 Commonly Asked Questions .. 15 Guidelines .. 16 Types of Data to Collect .. 16 Data Maintenance .. 17 Collecting and Using Unique Identifiers .. 17 Adding New information to Records .. 18 Licensure and Certification Data .. 18 Disposal of Data .. 19 Glossary .. 20 Notes.. 22 TABLE OFCONTENTSiiiPrivacy Issues in Education Staff RecordsAcknowledgmentsThis document was developed under the direction of the Data Confidentiality Task Force ofthe National Forum on Education Statistics, with the support of the Council of Chief StateSchool Officers (CCSSO) of Washington, The effort was funded by the National Center forEducation Statistics (NCES) of the Department of following were members of the task force, which provided guidance for both this project and during the development of guidelines for student Records :In addition, the following individuals joined the task force to provide valuable advice aboutprivacy Issues involving Staff Records : Jacques Nacson, National Education Association.

5 AndElizabeth Warren, Piedmont (South Carolina) Education of the National Forum on Education Statistics reviewed several versions of thedraft and improved the final document with their insightful comments and suggestions. TheNational Association of Secondary School Principals in Reston, Virginia, allowed the author touse the information published in the Association s Legal Memorandum. Lee Hoffman of NCES offered invaluable support and advice over the course of the document s , layout, and design assistance were provided by Denis Lipman and FrancesErlebacher of The Creative Shop in Rockville, views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the of Education , and no official endorsement by the Department should be FillionNew Hampshire Department of Education Mari Ann FowlerLouisiana Department of EducationEdward GlassmanOffice of the Under Department of EducationLee HoffmanNational Center for Education Department of EducationRoger HummelPennsylvania Department of EducationJo Ann KeithColorado Department of EducationSteve KingWyoming Department of EducationCherry KugleTexas Education AgencyJerry MalitzNational Center for Education Department of EducationDori NielsonMontana Department of EducationPaul PlanchonNational Center for Education Department of EducationDennis Powell (Task Force Chair)

6 Illinois State Board of EducationNathan SlaterMississippi Department of EducationEdward StrozykWashington Department of Public InstructionLeland TackIowa Department of EducationSharon TuchmanOffice for the Civil Department of EducationChapter 1: Overview1 Schools, school districts, and state Education agenciesmaintain a large volume of personnel files. A lot of personalinformation is kept in these Records , including personal identifiers such as social security numbers; demographic information ; salary; benefits; residence; dependents; educa-tion; employment history; medical history; evaluations;assignments; and, occasionally, even background check certain circumstances, personnel files and/or the infor-mation they contain may be requested by, and released to,parties other than the individual document discusses the Issues related to releasingthese Records and their contents.

7 It is not intended to providelegal guidelines, but rather to introduce the key conceptsinvolved in protecting and managing information in staffrecords. With an understanding of the Privacy Issues sur-rounding Staff Records , agency or school officials may developpolicies and procedures to protect employee Privacy withoutconflicting with the public s need to know and its right to haveaccess to government Records . Other possible users includepersonnel from school boards, intermediate Education units,professional associations, and the information in student Records , which belongsto the students and their parents, many parts of Staff recordsmaintained by state and local Education agencies are consid-ered public Records . Although they are entrusted to theagency for use and management, these Records are governedby each state s open Records law or Freedom of InformationAct (FOIA).

8 If you are used to working with student Records ,you will find that there are fewer restrictions, and a lot lessguidance, involving Staff Records . The laws generally permitthe public to inspect government Records upon request, withsome specific exceptions and exemptions that vary by laws differ greatly in what and how public recordsare to be maintained and released. In addition, each state hasits own exceptions, definitions, and practices. The Issues dis-cussed in this guide should therefore be addressed within thecontext of the laws in your state that govern the maintenanceand release of public Records . These are usually found in thestate s open Records law or FOIA. In some states, other lawsand regulations may restrict the disclosure of certain informa-This document discusses theissues related toreleasing the information in theserecords.

9 It is notintended to providelegal guidelines, butrather to introducethe key conceptsinvolved in protectingand managing information in 1 OverviewEach state has itsown exceptions,definitions, and practices. Theissues discussed inthis guide should beaddressed within thecontext of the laws in your state thatgovern the maintenance andrelease of , such as licensure Records . State libel and defamation lawsmay also have implications for releasing public and local Education agency Staff should be familiarwith the specific state laws and regulations. Ask your agency slegal office for current copies of relevant state laws and regu-lations, as well as information about applicable case information may be available from the stateAttorney General s office, state licensure and certificationauthorities, the human resources office, the school board, andFOIA ResourcesThis publication was developed by the DataConfidentiality Task Force of the National Forum onEducation Statistics.

10 The Forum is a cooperative system com-bining the resources of federal, state, and local educationagency personnel to improve the availability, quality, compara-bility, timeliness, and usefulness of Education data. SinceNovember 1994, the Task Force has directed multiple efforts toclarify the Issues surrounding the maintenance of confiden-tiality of student and school Staff data. A brochure,Protectingthe Privacy of Student Education Records1,was developed topromote the public understanding of the Family EducationalRights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that gives par-ents the right to review and confirm the accuracy of educationrecords while restricting the Records improper release. Acompanion document,Protecting the Privacy of StudentRecords: Guidelines for Education Agencies2,assists state andlocal Education agency Staff with the development of policiesand procedures to protect information about students andtheir families from improper release, while satisfying the needfor school officials to make sound management, instructional,and service decisions.