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School board reviews guidance on handling immigration enforcement and student records
Summary
Board members discussed AASA guidance and FERPA limits after receiving an alert about immigration enforcement at schools; no formal policy change was adopted and staff said they would follow the protocol in the packet and seek clarification if an incident arises.
RSU 40/MSAD 40 school board members discussed guidance from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and federal student-privacy law after an alert about the possibility that immigration enforcement agents could come to a school seeking a student.
Board members were told the district must follow the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and would require legal documentation such as a warrant before releasing education records. A staff member presenting the packet said: “Through FERPA, student privacy is protected so that we're not allowed to share information about students.”
The packet included an AASA handout with a suggested administrative protocol, which the presenter described as a starting point for the district to test and adapt: staff said they would “work through this protocol and then…respond accordingly based on what information they're able to provide.” The presenter also said the district had not experienced an incident of immigration enforcement at district schools to date.
Discussion among board members focused on wording in some outside guidance that the presenter described as unusually directive. The packet excerpt the presenter referenced contained language about whether certain pieces of personal information should be retained in student records; the presenter said that some versions they reviewed appeared to refer to destroying records and that most states’ guidance did not direct wholesale destruction. The presenter noted the district’s actual enrollment process relies on birth certificates for age verification and said the district “is not collecting that information” (referring to items such as a student’s U.S. entry date) beyond what is already required for enrollment.
A board member with relevant professional experience urged following existing records-retention schedules and legal requirements: “Keep everything that you're supposed to keep for as long as you're required to keep it, and don't keep records that you're not required to keep for any longer than you're required.” That member offered to help the district clarify which categories of student data must be retained and for how long.
No formal motion or change to district policy was proposed or adopted at the meeting. Board members directed administrators to use the AASA document as an initial protocol, to seek legal clarification if a real-world incident occurs, and to return to the board with any recommended changes after testing the protocol.
