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Board adopts five policies on records, immigration enforcement and student privacy
Summary
The board adopted five policies tied to recent legislation: access-to-records procedures, response to immigration enforcement (expanded to staff), student-records revisions (FERPA, cybersecurity), directory-information rules, and the comprehensive safety plan cross-reference; board amended the public-records paragraph before passing.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Education adopted a package of five board policies addressing record access, immigration enforcement response and student-record protections.
Staff explained the policies follow CSBA templates and are intended to implement recent legislative changes. The new response-to-immigration-enforcement policy "expands the guidance on responding to immigration enforcement, previously just focused on students to also including staff," and staff emphasized the policy "prohibits collecting or sharing information regarding a student's immigration status unless it's legally required." The package also included an updated student-records policy strengthening FERPA alignment and cybersecurity protections and a directory-information policy that clarifies parents' opt-out rights.
Trustees discussed process and one proposed amendment: a paragraph in the access-to-records policy that would have required in-person file examination. A trustee asked staff to strike that paragraph as inconsistent with current practice; the board amended the policy accordingly and then voted to adopt the package.
Staff said the policies will be integrated into department training (SBCEO training modules were described) and become the framework for responding to records and enforcement requests across county-office programs.
