The Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) recently dismissed a complaint alleging that Westport Public Schools violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to provide access to directory records identifying parents. Because the school district had a policy limiting access to this information, the FOIC found that the complaint involved a private right to access, which they do not have jurisdiction over.
In October 2023, Michael Guadarrama requested a number of types of messages from School Messenger, an application Westport Public Schools (WPS) use to communicate with parents. Guadarrama requested a spreadsheet containing a “user activity dataset from School Messenger” between August 1, 2022 and October 15, 2023. More specifically, Guadarrama requested user names, email addresses, email subjects, email read reports, URLs within emails accessed by users, IP addresses from which emails were opened, and “any other recipient-activity information” captured by School Messenger.
WPS provided responsive records to Guadarrama on November 6, 2023, but redacted student information numbers, student and parent names, and student and parent email addresses. WPS was also unable to include two categories of the information Guadarrama requested: IP addresses and the URLs accessed by users.
Guadarrama then filed a complaint with the FOIC alleging that WPS violated FOIA by redacting parent names and email addresses.
According to the FOIC’s decision, messages sent through School Messenger included “Superintendent updates, school event notices, school bus changes, student absences, and parent-teach association (“PTA} newsletters.” The application can also send text messages, email, attachments, and “personalized PDFs to families and students concerning, for example, individualized student transcripts.”
Education records that are not subject to disclosure under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are exempt from disclosure under Connecticut’s FOIA law. FERPA, which applies to schools that receive funding in certain programs from the U.S. Department of Education, prohibits schools from releasing information from students’ education records without the written permission of parents and students over 18 in most circumstances.
The law does allow schools to disclose “directory information,” including a student’s name, address, contact information, and attendance date, without consent but only after a reasonable time period during which parents can request information not be disclosed has passed.
In its decision, the FOIC found that FERPA allows educational institutions to adopt “limited directory information policies that allow the disclosure of directory information to specific parties, for specific purposes, or both.” They also found that WPS had such a policy in place at the time Guadarrama’s request was made. WPPS’ policy defined directory information to include “information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.” It specifically included the name and contact information of parents in this category.
Further, WPS’ Parent/Guardian Handbook for the academic year for which Guadarrama was seeking information stated that it was the district’s policy not to make directory information available to “private individuals, to commercial or college recruiters or to any non-school-related group” except in certain circumstances.
Guadarrama argued that, as a member of the PTA, the school district should not have been allowed to redact parent names and email addresses. WPS’ handbook also states that the PTA for each school in the district publishes a school directory, with the permission of parents, and makes directory information available to the PTA. An individual in each PTA is designated as a “communicator” and has full access to the information provided to PTA groups through School Messenger.
The FOIC found that WPS “had, and were permitted to have, a policy limiting the disclosure of directory information to certain groups and prohibiting disclosure of directory information to private individuals” at the time Guadarrama’s request was made. They also found Guadarrama was asking the FOIC to “enforce a private right to access the requested records due to his capacity as a member of the PTA,” which they do not have the jurisdiction to enforce.
The commission found WPS did not violate FOIA’s disclosure provision by redacting parents’ name and email addresses and dismissed the complaint.
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