FERPA and School Violence: The Silence That Kills (From School Violence Intervention: A Practical Handbook, P 460-489, 1997, Arnold P. Goldstein and Jane Close Conoley, eds. - See NCJ-169051)

• NCJ Number: 169070
• Author(s): B James
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is discussed with respect to the inaccurate perceptions about it and the resulting lack of information sharing about individual students to assist educators in school violence prevention.

Abstract

FERPA is also known as the Buckley Amendment. It aims to protect students' privacy interests through standards for record keeping designed to encourage inappropriate disclosure. FERPA covers almost every public primary and secondary school, as well as public and private universities and colleges. Distorted perceptions about FERPA have prevented communications between schools and other agencies regarding violent juveniles. However, FERPA was not intended to eliminate communication between educators and government agencies. FERPA provides several exceptions to its requirement for prior parental consent; these exceptions clearly convey the legislative intent that educators be allowed to exchange information with other agencies on a timely basis as specific needs arise. These and other considerations reveal that FERPA now poses few if any difficulties to educators' efforts to use and exchange information on violent juveniles. A routine, effective system of sharing information helps ensure that no agency is isolated in its efforts to serve juveniles, that scarce resources are used more effectively, and that a juvenile in need of attention will receive it. Appended FERPA text, clarifying regulations, and reference notes