Custody
Mom and Dad are separating. Mom requests that Dad be removed from Infinite Campus and the school stops communication with Dad. What should the school do?
What is inform Mom, that without a Court Order, the school is unable to remove Dad, and will have to continue to communicate with Dad.
Under FERPA, this is the maximum number of days a school has to comply with a parent's request to inspect and review their child's education records.
What is 45 days
A teacher comes into your office with a subpoena requiring court testimony in a custody case. What should be your first question?
What is was the subpoena properly served?
CMS uses this platform to manage public records requests and productions.
What is NextRequest?
You implement a short-term suspension to a student for 3-days. After speaking with the student and the fact the student has no disciplinary history, the parent disagrees with the suspension. What should you do next?
What is inform the parent that short-term suspensions of 3 or more days may be reviewed/appealed?
Two parents with 50/50 custody disagree about classroom placement of their child. Dad wants child to stay in current placement and Mom wants to change placement. Neither parent provides a court order identifying a final decision-maker. What should the school do?
What is continue the child in current placement or change the child's placement.
Defined under FERPA as records, files, documents, and other materials that contain information directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution.
What are education records?
A parent asks a teacher to write a letter describing how her child is doing when the child is in her physical custody for an upcoming custody court hearing. Should the teacher write the letter?
What is staff generally are not require nor prohibited from providing this type of letter, however, they do so in their own personal capacity.
Public records must be fulfilled in this manner. (timeline)
What is "as promptly as possible"?
Student A's bus stop is right in front of his home. One morning the Student A brings a BB gun he got for his birthday and shows the other students at this bus stop. He was going to allow Student B to hold it but hears the bus coming and quickly goes back home to drop the BB gun off. Student B's parent talks to Student A's parent saying she is going to report it to the school. Student A's parent says the school cannot become involved because it was off of school property. Student B's parent would like you to respond to the allegation. What can you do?
What is you can investigate for a potential Rule 30 violation because the bus stop is considered school property.
Dad provides school with a custody order stating he has primary legal and physical custody of the child. Mom comes in and wants to check the child out of school early. What should the school do?
What is check the custody order and see if there is a visitation schedule but if not, school should call Dad and see if Mom can pick up child.
A parent requests a principal's notes taken during a meeting with the child. What is the school's first step?
What is determine whether the notes taken are part of the child's educational record.
A principal hears that the PTO/PTA bank records may show questionable spending and inadequate financial controls. What can the principal do?
What is although PTOs/PTAs are separate legal entities a Principal can request a copy of their financial records.
North Carolina law states that public records and public information compiled by government agencies are considered the property of who?
What is the people?
Student A is alleged to have gone up to Student B at lunch and hit Student B in the back of the head with a closed fist. You collect witness statements from several students and attach to the incident report created for this situation. You issue Student A 3 days of out of school suspension. Parent of Student A request a copy of the incident report and witness statements. How should you respond?
What is the parent is entitled to this information as it is part of the student's educational records, however, the school should redact the names of the other students.
Mom provides a school with a custody order that states Dad only has supervised visitations with the child. Dad comes in requesting to have lunch with the child. What should the school do?
What is since the visitation is supervised, the school should not allow Dad to have lunch with child.
A parent requests copies of surveillance footage showing their child involved in an incident with another student. What should the school do?
What is allow the parent to view the video if appropriate, but do not provide a copy without proper legal authority.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up at your school with documentation and seeking to enter. What should the school do?
What is have them wait, collect the documents and contact the legal department. The legal department will inform the school whether they would be allowed to enter.
You send a text message after school hours from your personal phone to your principal inviting him to a cookout this Sunday. While sending that message you remind him that the oven in the cafeteria wasn't working and that you completed a work order for it since the principal was gone for the day. A parent is upset because the school has to serve cold lunches since the oven is not working and makes a public records request of all communications surrounding the oven. Do you need to turn over your text message from your personal phone?
What is yes because public records deals with content and are not designated by format or device. EXTRA: The Public Records Officer would redact the information about the cookout.
Student is supposed to be in math class but is currently hanging out at the gym. Last month you caught another student in the gym smoking from a vape pen around this same time since the gym is always empty at this time. You want to search the student, but the student refuses. How should you respond?
What is the student is "out of area" and may receive a disciplinary response based on that.
Dad is not on the birth certificate and is generally not the point of contact for the school but Mom has emailed the school claiming he is Dad and has enrolled the student and included Dad's information under the parent information in the enrollment. Mom now would like the school to not acknowledge Dad since he is not on the birth certificate. What should the school do?
What is the school should continue to acknowledge Dad as a parent with equal rights until a court order says otherwise.
An immigration attorney that represents a student's parent, who is currently in detention, reaches out asking for the child's education records. What should the school do?
What is the attorney would still need a proper release for the school to release information to an attorney who represents a parent.
A custody order provides a two-step approach with the first step giving a parent only supervised visitation at the discretion of the other parent and after the completion of step one, the parent can go to step 2, which grants the parents 50/50 custody. The Order also indicates that the parent could go back to Step 1 at any time. Parents are unable to agree on which step they are in the custody order. How should the school respond?
What is the school should err on the side of caution and likely follow Step 1, however, the school could operate under the Step 2 approach.
A teacher is constantly showing up late and lacks proper classroom management. You try to address the situation and the teacher begins to berate and use inappropriate language towards you. Teacher is given a disciplinary action and all this information is reflected on the teacher's evaluation. You receive a call from a potential employer seeking a reference for this teacher. Should you provide the information in the evaluation to the reference?
What is no because knowingly and improperly disclosing confidential personnel information can result in being found guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and potential fines?
Student is currently living with grandmother because he is not getting along with his mom. Mom goes to grandmother's house and finds illegal substances in the room he is staying and comes to school to find student. Mom and Student get into a heated verbal altercation. Fearing mom will use it, Student runs out to Mom's car and retrieves a gun from her car to turn it into school administration. How should you respond?
What is the Safe Harbor Provision, which may prevent the mandatory 365-day suspension if the student reported and surrendered the firearm as soon as practicable and had no intent to use it?