FERPA

Best Practices
Faculty

The federal regulations regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are complicated. In an
effort to simplify the dos and donts, the scenarios below are offered to guide your understanding of the law.
When in doubt, know that you may always contact the administration of Student Services to assist you with
your FERPA questions.

1. A student calls you and wants to know his last test grade. Is releasing non-directory information over
the telephone acceptable?

Releasing information over the telephone is not a best practice. Because there is no way to positively
identify someone over the telephone, you want to avoid releasing information. Even if you first ask the
person for personally identifiable information (e.g. SSN, DOB, address, etc.), this is not foolproof. Many
parents and spouses have access to such information and could easily pose as the student over the
telephone. If education records are inadvertently released to someone other than the student and the
student later files a FERPA complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, proof of identity would be
difficult to prove. Instead, you may recommend that the student utilize other easily accessible resources
to determine grades, etc.

Best practice is to utilize the following options:
o Web Advisor/Student Self Service
o Moodle
o Student email
o Sharing information in general terms

2. A student brings her father with her to an advising session in your office. Is it acceptable to discuss the
students education record information in the presence of a third party?

Best practice is first to ask the student if she is ok with having her father present as you begin the
academic advising session. Asking permission may be something as simple as saying, I know this may
seem like an odd question, but due to federal privacy laws, I first must ask if you are ok with having your
dad in the room as we talk about your classes and educational goals.

3. A students mom stopped by your office and wants to know her sons grades. Is it acceptable to
release this information to her?

No! The student must have completed and signed a written FERPA release form to release
grades. You would instruct her to contact the Administrative Assistant (AA) to the Vice
President of Student Services to complete the form. If the form is on file, the AA will
contact you, the instructor, and later provide the information to the mom. If the form is
not on file, the moms request will be denied.
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4. You are teaching a high school (or early college) class, and the high school (or early
college) counselor requests students grades, attendance, etc. May you provide this
information to a high school official who is not employed by our institution?

Yes. See below for the appropriate response.

Attending on the SCC Campus
For Moore County high school students who are taking courses on our campus, the
request should be sent to the Coordinator of High School Programs. For Hoke County and
Sandhoke high school students who are taking courses on our campus, the request should
be sent to the Director of High School Programs Hoke Center. It is important to note that a
direct response to the high school official is not actually a FERPA breach, but our internal
policy is to work through the SCC high school personnel for such requests.

Attending on the High School Campus
If students are attending college courses on the high school campus (Hoke, North Moore,
or SandHoke), you may share the information directly with the school official. SCC has a
memorandum of understanding with each high school, which allows us to freely share
information with school officials at the noted high schools in our service area.

5. The SCC Athletics Department requires that athletes have weekly attendance forms
completed and signed by faculty members. Is it within FERPA guidelines for you to
complete the form?

Yes. Each member of the SCC Athletic Department is employed by the college and has a
vested interest in students academic progress. Under FERPA, you may provide student
information to any authorized personnel within the institution, including administrators,
faculty, and staff members with legitimate educational interest related to fulfilling their job
responsibilities.

6. A student has confided in you regarding a difficult situation she is experiencing. She has
stopped attending classes, and you are worried. You are considering reaching out to your
colleagues regarding her situation. Is it within FERPA guidelines for you to contact her
other instructors and the SCC counseling center with details regarding her situation?

Yes. Student information may be released without the students permission to authorized
personnel within the institution, including administrators, faculty, and staff if the cause is
of a legitimate educational interest and you are seeking to fulfill your job responsibilities.

7. The building in which you teach catches on fire. The fire chief requests your class attendance roster.
She wants to know if all of your students who were in attendance are accounted for and have exited
the building. May you give your attendance roster to the fire chief?

Yes. You may release any information in a students education record to officials
involved in an emergency situation in order to protect the health and safety of students
or other persons.

8. A student is concerned that his directory information will be released without his knowledge. May he
request that none of his student education record, including directory information, be released?

Yes. He will need to contact the Director of Records and Registration to complete the
request process. A student who desires that any directory information not be released
must sign a request in the Office of Records and Registration no later than two (2) weeks
after the first day of class each semester.

9. A student, who is also an active duty service member, deploys unexpectedly mid-semester. He
asks his mother to notify the college and tie-up any loose ends related to his withdrawal. May
college officials work through the mother on the students behalf?

It depends. If the student designated his mother as Power of Attorney (POA) in his military
Family Care Plan, college officials are allowed to work through her on his behalf to complete the
withdrawal process, etc. If she is not designated as POA, only general withdrawal information
may be released to her.

No matter the situation, the mother should be referred to the Administrative Assistant (AA) to
the Vice President of Student Services. If the mother has been designated as the POA, the AA
will review the documentation to determine authenticity. If the mother is not POA, the AA will
provide as much general information as possible to guide the mothers next steps.

10. An employer calls you because a student has listed you as a job reference. What, if anything,
may you release to the outside agency?

According to FERPA, anything that you observe, but is not actually recorded, in the classroom
may be shared with anyone. Your personal observations regarding classroom discussion,
character strengths, personality traits, and skill level are not considered part of a students
education record covered by FERPA. Therefore, you may freely share this information with an
employer.

Education record information that you may not share with an employer includes grades,
discipline information that you documented and passed to another college official, and any
other academic information that you officially recorded and shared with colleagues.

For example, if the employer asks about the students punctuality, within the FERPA guidelines,
you may respond by saying, Yes, the student was consistently punctual to class. An
unacceptable response would be, Let me pull my attendance roster, and I can tell you exactly
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how many days this student was late to class. The first answer is based on your observations
and is acceptable to share; the second response is based specifically on official college records.

You do not have to release any information to the outside agency. If you would prefer to delay
your response until the student makes a formal request, you may do so.