An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 14 – Pupil Records

While the FERPA provides relevant guidance as to the definition of “pupil records,” the FERPA provides for other requirements – including certain notice and disclosure requirements – that are required by the Education Code. These requirements are not relevant to private schools that do not accept federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The definition of pupil records is quite broad. When a school retains documents that identify a pupil and are viewed by more than one person – within an application, an enrollment agreement or a permission slip – they may well be “pupil records.”

LCW Practice Advisor

LCW Practice Advisor

C. E XCEPTIONS T O T HE D EFINITION O F P UPIL R ECORDS

1. I NFORMAL N OTES In California, a pupil record does not include “informal notes” related to a student that were compiled by a school employee, remain in the sole possession of the maker, and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a substitute. 2079 This means, for example, if a teacher wrote a note to remind him or herself that a certain student got an extension on a paper, and the teacher kept that note simply as a reminder without sharing it, the note would not be considered a pupil record. The meaning of “informal notes” is not defined by statute. Conceivably, what makes a note “informal” is that it is not retained indefinitely or in an official file. An example might be a note to follow up with a student regarding a late homework assignment, a reminder to call or email parents, or a question raised by a student that should receive a follow-up during the next class. As a practical matter, when the purpose of maintaining an informal note has expired, it should be destroyed. The Education Code defines “substitute” (for the purposes of pupil records) as a person who “performs the duties of the individual who made the notes on a temporary basis .” 2080 It does not refer to a person who permanently succeeds the maker of the notes in his or her position. Thus, if another teacher or an administrator were to fill in on a temporary basis for an absent teacher, he or she may qualify as a substitute. If, on the other hand, someone were to take over a position on a permanent basis, he or she would no longer be a substitute and the note may then qualify as a pupil record.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 500