Citizen attempts to get directory info on students from school district

GUILDERLAND — The superintendent will ask the school board at its Feb. 26 meeting to enact a moratorium on the release of student directory information.

This is to allow the board a chance to evaluate its current policies, John McGuire told The Enterprise yesterday.
"In looking at our policy language...I think we’d do well to ask for a policy review," McGuire told the board at its Feb. 5 meeting.
He referenced the Jan. 31 Enterprise article, "Use of GCSD directory legal""

For the last two school-board elections, the district released to the teachers’ union a list of addresses to students’ homes; the union used the list to mail cards in support of candidates and the budget.

Timothy Burke, a vocal school-district resident who has served on the citizens’ budget advisory committee, wrote a letter to the Enterprise editor this week, saying he had filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the district to obtain the same directory information the union had.

He doesn’t plan to use the information, he told The Enterprise; he just wants to make a point. "I just want them to say, ‘Hey, we made a mistake and we need to close this,’" said Burke. "We’ve got to fix this."
Burke writes that McGuire "informed me he was not going to honor my request."
"That’s not true," McGuire told The Enterprise yesterday. "We will respond to the FOIL request through the usual procedures."

School board President Richard Weisz could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The Enterpise asked McGuire if, as Burke claimed, the school board was planning to enact the moratorium before his FOIL request is answered. McGuire said he couldn’t speak for the school board. He went on, "I am recommending to the school board that they adopt a moratorium on the release of information so they have time to work on a policy."

Concerns were initially raised by board member Peter Golden 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.
Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the State Education Department, said last week that he can’t comment on whether Guilderland’s actions were permissible under state law since, he said, "The commissioner may be called upon to render a legally-binding decision if an appeal on this matter is brought before him."

Burman did, however, cite examples from School Law, a book published by the New York State School Boards Association and the New York State Bar Association.
"In general," School Law states, "...school officials can neither actively encourage nor tacitly permit anyone else to use district facilities or channels of communication to engage in promotional activities."
Quoting from a 2002 appeal by Maliha, it goes on to say that school boards are "ultimately accountable for how district facilities and resources are used and must avoid even the appearance of impermissible partisan activity."
McGuire, who just became superintendent this fall, told the board at its Feb. 5 meeting that the school attorney said, "We were in compliance with the law."

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act requires schools to 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 the school not disclose their directory information.

McGuire told The Enterprise earlier that notice of FERPA is given to Guilderland parents and students each year in the school calendar.
"The way the policy stands now, can anybody request lists"" asked board member Denise Eisele.
"Once we declare we do share and notify, we are essentially not able to be selective unless we identify an extreme invasion of privacy," responded McGuire.
Golden said he’d like to hear what the board thinks, stating, "This is such an important issue with identity theft and predators."
"We have a system," said President Weisz, indicating the policy committee would handle the matter.
Board member Colleen O’Connell pointed out that the information released last spring "was not student information; it was the names and addresses of parents," she said.
Golden alluded to inconsistencies between current policies. One policy, 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.
"I happen to agree with that policy," said Golden.
The school district’s official stance, said Weisz, is that it did not violate policy. He chided Golden for "this constant drumbeat" that there had been a violation.
"Let’s adopt our policy to reflect what we want but let’s not do it under the guise that we’ve done something wrong," said Weisz.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Reviewed a school calendar for next year based on 185 days.

McGuire said that, for the first time, the BOCES were divided over the calendar. The QUESTAR and Capital Region Boards of Cooperative Educational Services will follow one calendar and the northern and western BOCES will follow a different one with a two-week winter break.
O’Connell raised an objection that she had raised before. "We’re a public school system, not a Christian school," she said. "I do not think we should follow Easter around like a puppy dog."
"I think we’re following BOCES around like a puppy dog," Weisz said.

McGuire said he would raise the issue during discussions for the following year’s calendar.

The board will vote on the 2008-09 calendar at its Feb. 26 meeting;

— Accepted, with regret, resignations from two elementary-school principals who will be retiring in June — Martha Beck from Pine Bush and Dianne Walshhampton from Guilderland Elementary;

— Established non-resident tuition rates for the 2007-08 school year as set by the state. Kindergartners, in a half-day program, pay $4,052; students in first through sixth grade pay $7,547; and students in seventh through 12th grade pay $11,148;

— Established the Micki Nevett Literature Scholarship to recognize a graduating senior who plans to continue his or her education, has demonstrated a love of literature, and had attended Westmere Elementary School.

Nevett, the long-time Westmere librarian, died of a heart attack in December;

— Accepted 50 books from Roaring Brook Press, also in Nevett’s honor, to be resold to start a Visiting Authors Fund at Westmere Elementary;

— Appointed eight more members to the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee. The members review next year’s budget proposal and give their opinions in a half-dozen televised sessions, beginning Feb. 28.

New members are Garrett Bissell, Robert Lally, and Thea Reed.

Returning members are Timothy Burke, Rae Ellen Burke, Bernadette Hallam, Carolyn Kelly, and Baswa Shaker Shamshabad;

— Heard from Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Nancy Andress that Farnsworth Middle School will once again hold a Wellness Day for students on March 27, with workshops on a wide variety of topics, ranging from leadership training to cybersafety;
— Learned that five pieces from the Guilderland High School sculpture class were accepted in "Art in Three Dimensions." Alexia Haluska had two pieces accepted, and one each were accepted for Jarret Trudeau, Jennifer Ostroski, and Jessica Urban;

— Learned that 75 students from Guilderland schools had work featured in The Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King 2008 Student Art and Essay Celebration held at Siena College. Their names are posted on the district website; and
— Met in closed session to discuss a "personnel item" and contract negotiations with the principals unit.