SEPTA’s Statement on the FERPA Disclosure

SEPTA’s Statement on the FERPA Disclosure shared via letters to families this week:

The Fairfax County Special Education PTA Executive Board is aware of the data breach involving thousands of special education students across FCPS and the subsequent publishing of redacted information from that breach. Many SEPTA members are impacted by this incident and SEPTA is following this closely. We are aware that there is a significant history of FCPS unintentionally releasing other students’ information in FERPA &/or FOIA requests; there have been many such situations where FCPS has failed to notify impacted families of these breaches. It is unacceptable that these breaches of student data and health information occur, and the egregious nature of the current breach shows that steps taken previously to reduce such breaches have not been effective.

National PTA’s position statement on Student Data Privacy and Security states that school districts must “be transparent and engaged with families on the development, implementation and notification about policies and procedures related to the privacy and protection of student data in accordance with federal and state privacy laws, including educating students on their right to privacy.” We look forward to collaboratively working with FCPS to ensure there is family engagement and transparency both in further responding to the current breach and also in reviewing and revising current policies and procedures for handling student data to ensure these breaches come to an end.

Read the referenced PTA statement here.