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Lincoln County parent urges board to review FERPA and staff-misconduct procedures after alleged privacy breach
Summary
A Lincoln County parent told the school board that a special-education teacher accessed and shared her son's private information without permission and asked the board to review district FERPA compliance, student-protection procedures and communication with families.
Christie Hasten, a Lincoln County parent, told the Lincoln County School Board that a special-education teacher at Lincoln County High School accessed and shared private information about her son without permission and asked the board to initiate a review of district policies related to FERPA and staff misconduct.
Hasten said the district imposed a two-day unpaid suspension on the teacher but that the staff member returned to work on the following Monday with only a verbal directive to avoid contact with her child. “For my son, the fear and discomfort didn't end after just 2 days,” Hasten said. She said she has had to check her son out of school because he was too distressed to remain in class.
Hasten said she was not asking the board to reverse disciplinary action but asked the board to treat the matter as a student-well-being and school-culture issue rather than solely a personnel matter. She asked the board to adopt a clear, written procedure to protect students from ongoing contact with staff members who have been involved in privacy or misconduct incidents, to ensure meaningful communication with impacted families, and to review the district's FERPA compliance and related processes.
Hasten acknowledged that some personnel matters are handled under existing administrative procedures, saying, “I understand that personnel decisions are outside of this ... jurisdiction,” but she urged the board to consider policy updates so students are protected and families are informed when violations occur.
The comment did not produce a recorded motion or formal action during the meeting. Board response in the transcript was limited to receiving the comment; no formal vote or directive to begin a districtwide policy review was recorded at this meeting.
Clarifying details from the speaker's remarks: the teacher received a two-day unpaid suspension, the teacher returned to the building the next Monday with a verbal directive to avoid contact, and the parent requested a written procedure and a formal review of FERPA-related practices and staff-misconduct response.
The board did not record any formal action or vote in response during this session.
