CASE NO. 2022090699

ESCONDIDO UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT v. STUDENT

Counsel for Student: None (Decided ex-parte)

Counsel for School: Deborah Cesario and Shannyn Shafer

Representative for School: Meggan Lokken

ALJ: Cynthia Fritz

Date of Decision: November 07, 2022

Significant areas of law: Exception to parental consent under FERPA

ISSUES:

– Can School submit referral packets to potential residential treatment centers to secure a placement for Student without parental consent?

FACTS OF THE CASE:

• Student was 13 years old and was eligible under the primary category of autism and the secondary category of intellectual disability. Student was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
• Student demonstrated below average cognitive ability, and had needs in academics, attention, focus, verbal and nonverbal communication, pragmatic skills, impulsive behavior, emotional regulation, perseverating on topics, and mental health. Hence, school found him eligible for emotional disturbance and other health impairment, but parents did not give consent to his IEP.

CONCLUSION :-

– School CANNOT submit referral packets to potential residential treatment centers to secure a placement for Student without parental consent.

Rationale:-

– Students have substantial privacy and confidentiality interests in their school records and the current scenario does not fall under the following exception to the parent consent requirement provided by FERPA:-

• to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena

– as allowed under FERPA, school can redact the personally identifiable information from Student’s education records to receive conditional acceptances at residential treatment facilities.

– as regards exception to the parent consent requirement provided by FERPA in case of health and safety emergency, school can independently make this determination and implement it without OAH intervention.

REMEDIES/ORDER:-

• Not applicable.