GUILDERLAND — Last spring, in a hotly contested five-way race for three school-board seats, the two candidates backed by the teachers’ union won. The union used a list of addresses of students’ homes obtained from the school district to mail postcards supporting the two candidates and the school budget just before the May vote.

Concerns are now being raised that releasing the directory information was illegal — either in violation of state law that prohibits school districts from campaigning or in violation of a federal act that protects students’ privacy.

Board member Peter Golden asked about the release of directory information at the last school board meeting and was told by the school board president, Richard Weisz, that directory information was only given out to the military as required by federal law, with parents or students who are 18 having a chance to opt out.

Susan Tangorre, the district’s freedom of information officer, agreed. She could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Chris Claus, the president of the Guilderland Teachers’ Association, which is affiliated with the New York State United Teachers, said yesterday that the GTA had filed a freedom-of-information request asking for the addresses of people with children in the school district before both the 2007 elections and the 2006 elections.

Postcards supporting the union-backed candidates and the budget were sent to those on the lists, he said. In 2006, the GTA supported Richard Weisz, and in 2007 the union supported Colleen O’Connell and Gloria Towle-Hilt.
Claus said he got the idea from a NYSUT workshop that "gave suggestions on being more politically active."
"It’s a great idea to target a group of people with whom we have a common interest," said Claus. "They have kids in school and we teach those kids."
Asked if there is a district policy on releasing directory information, Claus said, "Not that I know of."
Claus went on, "We would not ask for anything improper. We made this as a good-faith request, we believe, in a proper, legal way."
Asked if he thought the mailing was effective, Clause said, "It was more effective than the list of New York State United Teachers in the district"It was much bigger." The NYSUT list was used to phone teachers, said Claus. The list of students’ homes from the Guilderland School District contained just addresses, no phone numbers, he said.
Claus said, "I don’t have a way of gauging the effectiveness."
He said the lists had "absolutely not" been used for any other purpose.

Gregory Aidala, who retired this fall after seven years as Guilderland’s superintendent, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In the midst of the spring election, which he and others called contentious and divisive, Aidala, with the advice of the school’s attorney, stopped three candidates from handing out election flyers at school events, a longstanding practice.

Those three candidates were not endorsed by the teachers’ union; they were running as a slate backed by a group of parents which had been critical of how the district teaches reading.
"We have to maintain the appearance of not permitting partisan activities on school grounds," Aidala said at the time.
One of the losing candidates, Carolyn Kelly, who had filled out and returned a questionnaire for the Guilderland Teachers’ Association but had not received the union’s endorsement, said the day after the election, "It’s unfortunate postcards went out from the GTA on Saturday, supporting their chosen candidates. That’s a huge expense; it obviously worked"I don’t know if any parent can work past that type of machine."

Golden, whose three-year term on the board is up this year, said he has not yet decided if he will seek re-election.
"Since this summer, at the urging of community members, I’ve been trying to learn if the district released any of our family information," he told The Enterprise yesterday. "Our former superintendent indicated that we hadn’t and, at our board meeting on Jan. 23, the administrator overseeing this information also seemed to indicate that we hadn’t.
"Now it appears that the information was provided to the teachers’ union. All I’ve been trying to discover is what was released and whether the district met its obligations in part defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
"I just want to be sure parents were given the appropriate public notice that the district was providing family information to the teachers’ union and that parents had the opportunity to say no.
"As I look back, I’m having a hard time understanding the denials that we had released the information when obviously we had."

FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which applies to all schools that receive federal funds, is to protect the privacy of students’ education records. Under the act, schools must generally have written permission from a parent or eligible student, age 18 or older, to release any information from a student’s record, but schools may disclose directory information, such as a student’s name, address, or telephone number, as long as parents and eligible students are told and allowed a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose their directory information.

Weisz, the school-board president, told The Enterprise yesterday that he didn’t know if the district had a policy on the release of directory information and he said he wasn’t aware of the school board discussing it. "We’ve got to check and see what happened," he said.
Asked if he thought the release was legal and ethical, Weisz said, "I don’t know enough to answer that."

John McGuire, who just became Guilderland’s superintendent this fall, said notice of FERPA is given to Guilderland parents and students each year in the school calendar.
He cited two district policies that deal with records. The first, on access to student records, which was adopted in 1995 and revised in 2001, lists "rosters and/or directories of pupils," which it defines as "lists of names of pupils by grades," as not available for public access.
This policy is posted at the district’s website along with a statement under "Policies and notifications" that says, "From time to time, school district officials may release student information"for use in school district publications or within school building Web sites, or to the media for public relations purposes." It goes on to say parents who object to the release of their child’s information are to notify the building principal and the district’s communication office "in writing on or before September 15 in any school year."

Yesterday, The Enterprise shared these policy statements with Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government and an expert on freedom-of-information laws, and asked if the school district was correct to release the directory information.
Freeman responded by quoting from the federal regulation: "‘An educational agency or institution may disclose directory information if it gives public notice to parents of students in attendance’"Have they done that""If they haven’t done it, then they haven’t complied with the federal law. That’s the simple answer."
He also said, "I suggest to districts that they establish a policy on directory information so they can disclose"information without fear of violating federal law."
Freeman said, too, that, although FERPA has been on the books since 1974, there is "rampant ignorance" about the act.

After Freeman had gone home for the day, the district office e-mailed The Enterprise the second policy that McGuire had cited, too new to be posted on the district website, on student records regulation. Just one section of that policy deals with directory information. It says that, at the beginning of each school year, the district shall publish in the district newsletter, school calendar and/or district website a notice to parents and students 18 or older of their rights under FERPA and the district policy.
"The policy applicable to the release of student directory information may apply to military recruiters, the media, colleges and universities, and prospective employers," it states. "Subsequent to the annual notification of parents concerning directory information, a reasonable amount of time must be allowed for the parent or student to notify school officials that any or all such information should not be released."
McGuire said that the directory information was given to the GTA on the advice of the school district’s lawyer. "Frankly," he said, "I’m comfortable that what was done was done in compliance with the law and policy."
He went on, "We want to be in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but also acting in the best interests of our students and community."
He also said, about board members’ seeming unawareness of the policy, "In fairness to the board, policy manuals are voluminous."
McGuire said he will be asking the board to review the current policy. "They may say, ‘Yep, this is exactly where I want to be,’" he said.
McGuire went on, "This, to me, is an appropriate question for anyone to ask"We’ll generate a lot of different opinions."
McGuire concluded, "My feeling is, baseline, you make sure you’re in compliance with the law. Then, beyond that, where do you want to be as a superintendent""

He said yesterday he had not yet formulated his recommendation on the matter.