PRO 6.090 Student Records – Rights and Privacy
STUDENT NOTIFICATION In order to comply with FERPA, Kirtland Community College shall publish a notice to students explaining their rights under FERPA and designating directory information which may be disclosed without consent. A statement regarding this notice will be published in the schedule and in the college catalog. If a student has a primary language other than English, Kirtland Community College shall endeavor to notify the student of his/her rights in the student’s native language.
INSPECTION OF STUDENT RECORDS A student may inspect and review his/her own education records upon written request submitted to the registrar. This request should precisely as possible identify the education record(s) the student wishes to inspect. If the records are not maintained by the registrar’s office, the registrar shall advise the student of the correct official to whom the request should be addressed. The registrar or other school official will make arrangements for access as promptly as possible and notify the student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. Access must be given within 45 days from receipt of the request by the appropriate school official.
When a record contains information about students other than the requesting student, the student may not inspect the portion of the record that pertains to other students. In addition, a student does not have the right to inspect or review the following education records: financial records, including any information those records contain of his/her parents, and confidential letters/statements of recommendation as long as the statements are only used for their intended purposes, the student has waived his/her right to review those materials, and the materials relate to the student’s admission to an educational institution, application for employment, or receipt of an honor or honorary recognition.
AMENDMENT OF STUDENT RECORDS If a student, upon review of his/her record, would like to request or amend a record believed to be inaccurate or misleading, a written request should be submitted to the school official responsible for the record. This request should clearly identify the part of the record that the student wants changed and specify why it is inaccurate, misleading or in violation of the student’s privacy rights. The school official may or may not comply with the request. If the record is not amended as requested by the student, Kirtland Community College shall arrange a hearing and shall provide the student with reasonable notice of the date, time and place of the hearing. The hearing will be conducted by a disinterested hearing officer; however, the hearing officer may be a school official. The student shall have the opportunity to offer evidence in support of his/her request for amendment. The student also has the right to be represented at the hearing. The hearing officer will prepare a written decision based solely upon the evidence presented at the hearing, which shall be distributed to the parties. The decision will include a summary of the evidence and a reason for the decision. If Kirtland Community College determines that the student’s education record should not be amended, the student must be notified that he/she has the right to place a written statement in his/her education record setting forth objections to the challenged information and/or disagreements with the decision not to amend this record. This statement shall be maintained with the challenged portion of the student’s education record and be disclosed with that record. If Kirtland Community College determines that the student’s education record must be amended, it shall amend the record and notify the student that the record has been amended.
RELEASE OF INFORMATION Kirtland Community College may release information from a student’s education record to a third party if the student gives prior written consent for the disclosure. All requests for release of such information shall be made in writing. The written consent must include the following information: a specification of the record(s) to be released, the reason for disclosure, the person(s) or organization(s) to whom the disclosure will be made, the student’s signature and the date of consent and, if appropriate, the date upon which consent terminates. Kirtland Community College will not disclose personally identifiable information in a student’s education record to a third party unless that party agrees to redisclose the information only with the student’s prior written consent.
RECORD OF DISCLOSURE Kirtland Community College shall maintain an accurate record of all requests for access to, and disclosures of, a student’s education record and a record of any access or disclosure permitted. The following procedures shall apply: this record will be kept with, but will not be part of, each student’s educational record. This record will only be available to the student, college officials, and federal, state or local officials. This record will include the name of the requesting party, additional parties to whom the information may be disclosed, the party’s interest in the information, the date of the request, whether the request was granted or denied, and the date of any access or disclosure permitted. This record will be maintained as long as Kirtland Community College maintains the student’s education record. This record keeping requirement does not apply to requests by or disclosure to the student, school officials, a party with written consent from the student, a party seeking directory information, or a party seeking information pursuant to a confidential court order or lawfully-issued subpoena.
DIRECTORY INFORMATION Under FERPA, Kirtland Community College is authorized to designate certain personally identifiable information contained in education records as “directory” information and may disclose such information without prior written consent unless a student objects to such disclosure.
Kirtland Community College designates the following personally identifiable information contained in a student’s education record as directory information: student name, address, telephone number, electronic email address, student ID number, part-time/full-time status, freshman/sophomore status, program of study, weight and height of athletes, most recent educational institution attended, photographs, date of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports including positions held, dates of attendance, date of graduation, and degrees and awards received.
The following procedures apply to the notification and designation of directory information:
- Kirtland Community College will publish in the schedule and college catalog the list of items of personally identifiable information that it designates as directory information.
- A student may submit a Notification of Non-Disclosure form to the Registrar’s office to indicate that he/she does not want this designated directory information released.
- School officials shall mark the student’s education record indicating that directory information may not be disclosed pursuant to the student’s objection.
- Absent written objection by a student, Kirtland Community College may release designated directory information without prior written consent.
- The Notification of Non-Disclosure remains in effect only for the current semester and also applies to requests for information as defined under the Solomon Amendment.
In order to comply with the Solomon Amendment, Kirtland Community College will provide the available directory information of currently enrolled students to the military, for which a request should be submitted to the registrar’s office at least two weeks prior to the end of the requested semester. A fee will be charged for this list and this fee will need to be collected prior to any information being disclosed.
Revised June 21, 2016
To view the policy, go to POL 6.090 Student Records – Rights and Privacy
