US Department of Education to Propose New Privacy Regulations

On October 17, I was privileged to participate in a candidate forum with my fellow Westfield Board of Education candidates before the Westfield Education Association. It was an important opportunity to interact with our teachers and hear their concerns. The discussion was lively and wide-ranging and exhibited how much our teachers care about our schools and their students. I also enjoyed interacting with my fellow candidates. Our town is lucky to have such talented people willing to dedicate themselves to our schools.

One person raised an issue concerning how the district ensures compliance with new regulations from Trenton. This is not only an important concern in and of itself, but raises the issue of how we respond to all new mandates, whether from Trenton or from Washington, D.C.

This is no hypothetical matter; earlier this week, the US Department of Education published its Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Among the proposed regulatory changes are those related to how the Department of Education enforces “FERPA” - the Family Education Rights Privacy Act. FERPA is the main federal privacy law that protects the privacy of student education records and allows students (and their parents) to have access to their records. Protecting student data has always been important and is growing increasingly more so. Compliance failures in these areas can breach the trust parents place in our schools, as well as subject our schools to lawsuits and increased liability. That the Department of Education is considering changes to how it enforces the law only increases the concern.

I have the utmost confidence in our school administrators and teachers to stay on top of changes to FERPA and other regulations. And I know our schools do a very good job of protecting our students' privacy. But these new requirements are going to be complex and take work to understand. I know; I help school administrators understand regulatory requirements like FERPA every day. That is one of the reasons why I am running for Westfield Board of Education: I hope voters give me the chance to use my education law expertise to support our administrators and benefit our town's schools.

Regulatory compliance is a serious matter. That's one reason why I'm asking you to vote for Column 1 on November 6th.

Dennis Cariello is an education lawyer and candidate for Westfield Board of Education.