FERPA - Student Rights
Notification of Students' Rights Under FERPA
FERPA affords students certain rights with respect to their education records. These rights include:
- The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the day the College receives a request for access.
To inspect and review his or her education records, a student should submit to the HCHS’s office a written request that identifies the record(s) the student wishes to inspect. For more information see Consent to Release Records Form.
- The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the student believes are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student's privacy rights under FERPA. (This process cannot be used to challenge a grade.)
A student who wishes to ask HCHS to amend a record should write the Director of Administration, clearly identify the part of the record the student wants changed, and specify why it should be changed.
If HCHS decides not to amend the record as requested, the College will notify the student in writing of the decision and the student's right to appeal with procedures for appealing.
- The right to provide written consent before the College discloses personally identifiable information from the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.
The College discloses education records without a student's prior written consent under the FERPA exception for disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the College in an administrative, supervisory, academic, research, or support staff position; a contractor, consultant, or other outside service provider retained to provide various institutional services and functions under contract or by statute instead of using College employees or officials (including, but not limited to an attorney, auditor, collection agent, information systems specialist, and teaching affiliate); a person serving on the Board of Trustees, the Institutional Review Board, and any other College board, committee or council; or a student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee, or assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.
A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibilities for the College.
Upon request, the College also discloses education records without consent to officials of another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll. This disclosure may be made at any point in time, even after the student has enrolled in the new school, if the disclosure is in connection with the student's enrollment in the new school. The College may also update, correct, or explain information it has disclosed to another school in which a student seeks or intends to enroll.
- The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the College to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA is:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-5901
Additional Resources
For more information on FERPA, please see the following links:
- FPCO - http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html"
- FERPA 20 USC 1232(g) - http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+20USC1232g
- 34 CFR Part 99 - http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_07/34cfr99_07.html
- Chapter 478-140 WAC - http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=478-140
