Parents/students also have the right to ask the Local Educational Agency (LEA) that the record be amended where the parent/student believes that the record contains information that is inaccurate, misleading or in violation of the student's right to privacy. In order to ask that a student record be amended, a parent/student should contact their school.

Directory Information

FERPA requires that the Dougherty County School System, with certain exceptions, obtain a parent's, guardian's or eligible student's written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from a child's education records. However, the Dougherty County School System may disclose appropriately designated "directory information" without written consent, unless the parent/student has advised the system to the contrary in accordance with system procedures. The primary purpose of directory information is to allow the Dougherty County School System to include this type of information from a child's education records in certain school publications. Examples include a playbill showing a student's role in a production, the annual yearbook, the honor roll or other recognition lists, sports activity sheets (such as wrestling sheets that show weight and height of team members).

Directory information, which is information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released, can also be disclosed to outside organizations without prior parent/student consent. Outside organizations include, but are not limited to, companies that publish yearbooks or manufacture class rings. In addition, two federal laws require local educational agencies receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to provide military recruiters, upon request, with three directory information categories -- name, address, telephone listing -- unless the parent/student has advised the LEA that they do not want student information disclosed without their prior written consent.

Parents/students who do not want the Dougherty County School System to disclose directory information from a student's educational records without prior written consent must notify the school system in writing by August 27, 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Dougherty County School System has designated the following information as directory information:

• Student name
• Address
• Telephone listing
• Electronic mail address
• Photograph
• Date and place of birth
• Major field of study
• Dates of attendance
• Grade level
• Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
• Weight and height of members of athletic teams
• Degrees, honors and awards received
• The most recent educational agency or institution attended

The Protection of Pupils Rights Amendment (PPRA) affords parents certain rights regarding our conduct of surveys, collection and use of information for marketing purposes, and certain physical exams. These include the right to:

• Consent before students are required to submit to a survey that concerns one or more of the following protected areas ("protected information survey") if the survey is funded in whole or in part by a program of the U. S. Department of Education:
  • Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or student's parents
  • Mental or psychological problems of the student or student's family
  • Sexual behavior or attitudes
  • Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior
  • Critical appraisals of others with whom respondents have close family relationships
  • Legally recognized privileged relationships, such as with lawyers, doctors, or ministers
  • Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or parents; or
  • Income, other than as required by law to determine program eligibility
• Receive notice and an opportunity to opt a student out of:
  • Any protected information survey, regardless of funding
  • Any non-emergency, invasive physical exam or screening required as a condition of attendance, administered by the school or its agent, and not necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of a student, except for hearing, vision or scoliosis screenings, or any physical exam or screening permitted or required under State law; and
  • Activities involving collection, disclosure, or use of personal information obtained from students for marketing or to sell or otherwise distribute the information to others.
• Inspect, upon request and before administration or use
  • Protected information surveys of students
  • Instruments used to collect personal information from students for any of the above marketing, sales, or other distribution purposes; and
  • Instructional material used as part of the educational curriculum.