Dear FERPA Professors,
I would like to inquire about a concern that has come up at my campus regarding legitimate educational interest.
My office has been contacted several times by our Board Chair, who has requested that I give an update on a recent instance in one of our academic departments that resulted in students who failed the final exam in a course. The students submitted complaints and grievances on the exam, stating that some students who took certain kinds of notes were given an unfair advantage in the final exam. One complaint has not resulted in any grievance, but one other is in the process of our 5-step grievance process.
I have held my ground that our Board of Trustees does not have a legitimate educational interest since this case is not directly related to their role at the institution. Our board, per their policy, has one college employee (our president) and is not to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the college. I have informed my institutional president that I cannot give them a full progress report of the students who complained that they failed due to legitimate educational interest.
I would appreciate any guidance you can provide.
Sincerely,
Stan D. Firm
Dear Stan D. Firm
I am writing in response to your inquiry regarding whether members of your institution’s Board of Trustees are considered school officials with a legitimate educational interest in accessing certain student education records. As you pointed out, only school officials whom the institution has determined to have a legitimate educational interest in the records may access the records without consent.
Legitimate educational interest is generally interpreted to mean that the official has a need to access student education records for the purpose of performing an appropriate educational or administrative function for the institution. However, the FERPA regulations do not establish criteria for determining the limits of what may be considered a legitimate educational interest. Such criteria must be established by the institution. The institution must specify in its annual notification to students the institution’s criteria for determining who is a “school official” and what constitutes a “legitimate educational interest.”
AACRAO has advised in its 2012 FERPA Guide that an institution’s criteria for who might be considered a school official should be broad enough to include anyone who may reasonably fall within that category. However, we have also advised that although an individual may be designated as a “school official,” the individual does not have a right to access any or all student education records. The institution must determine on a case-by-case basis whether a school official has a legitimate educational interest in accessing a student’s education records, pursuant to the institution’s written criteria established in its annual notification.
In your case, you would need to determine whether the Board of Trustees meets the Institution’s written criteria for who is a school official and, if so, whether the Board of Trustees has a legitimate educational interest in accessing the information, as established in your annual notification. For more detailed information on legitimate educational interest/school officials, you may wish to review pages 32-35 of the AACRAO 2012 FERPA Guide.
The FERPA Professor
AACRAO members, send your questions to the FERPA Professor at communications@aacrao.org.
Get the Addendum to the 2012 Guide, “Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Student Privacy Under FERPA: An Addendum to the AACRAO 2012 FERPA Guide,” from the AACRAO Bookstore.
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