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Committee advances revised student‑records policy to full board after FERPA‑aligned changes
Summary
The committee voted to move the district's revised student‑records policy (Policy 5‑80) to the full board for first reading after staff added behavioral intervention teams to the list of officials with legitimate educational interest, reordered disclosure language, and recommended replacing the term 'predictive tests' with 'assessments'.
The Concord School District communication and policy committee voted to send an amended student‑records and access policy to the full board for first reading following a lengthy review and several substantive edits.
Karen Fisher Anderson, who presented the draft, said the updates align the policy with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the New Hampshire School Board Association's go‑by. The most significant substantive change was explicitly listing the district's behavioral intervention teams (CARES) among school officials with a "legitimate educational interest" when reviewing student behavior and coordinating support. "I specifically went in there and included the behavioral intervention teams within our instruction on [advice of counsel]," Fisher Anderson said, adding the change is intended to provide transparency and notice.
The committee also discussed directory‑information notices, removal or reordering of certain disclosure items to match the NHSBA model, clarifying the definition of "eligible student," and editorial changes such as inserting the term "building principal." Members pressed staff on special‑education records and whether volunteers or consultants should be included; staff said the policy follows NHSBA language while specifically including volunteers when they need access as part of their role.
Committee members raised questions about the phrase "predictive tests," and the group agreed to broaden that wording to "assessments" to avoid inadvertently excluding common educational evaluations. Staff noted roughly 1,800 permissions for classroom recording have been returned in the district's current opt‑in process, with about two dozen outstanding, underscoring the work needed to increase returns.
Barb Higgins moved to advance Policy 5‑80 as amended to the full board for first reading; Alex Du Bois seconded. The motion passed by voice vote.
What happens next: the amended policy will be included in the board packet for first reading; committee members have the month between first and second reading to propose further edits.
