Policy 5125.5 [Policy]



STUDENT DIRECTORY INFORMATION Policy 5125.5

May 2015 January 2021

I. General Statement of Policy. It is the policy of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education to protect the privacy rights of students and parents by prohibiting the distribution of lists of students’ and their parents’ or guardian’s names, addresses and telephone numbers to non-school sponsored or related agencies, organizations or the public, except as set forth below.

II. Exceptions to General Policy.

A. Special Schools and Special Students with Special Transportation Needs. It is permissible for schools to distribute to parents or guardians lists of student names, addresses and telephone numbers for the limited purpose of facilitating the establishment of car pools or van pools for students with disabilities or students attending magnet schools. Such lists may be provided by school, by grade level, by individual class or by special program at the discretion of the Principal.

B. Other Educational or Administrative Needs. With the knowledge and consent of the Principal, individual classroom teachers, coaches (who are employees), and club sponsors (who are employees) may distribute to the students and their parents in a class, on a team, or in a club, a list of the students in the class, team, or club, their email addresses, cell phone numbers, addresses and/or telephone numbers to foster interpersonal relationships among the students in the class, to facilitate their assisting one another with homework assignments, and for any other legitimate educational or administrative purpose.

C. Public Charter Schools. To provide information to students and their parents about their choices of educational programs in Forsyth County, it is appropriate for the WS/FCS and charter schools to exchange lists of pubic school students’ names and addresses. The WS/FCS will provide to a charter school a list containing its students’ names, addresses, and grade in school subject to the following conditions:

1. The charter school agrees to provide the WS/FCS a similar list of its students’ names, addresses and grade in school;

2. The charter school agrees to maintain the confidentiality of the said address list and not to sell, convey or otherwise redisclose it to third parties unless required by law; and

3. The parents of WS/FCS and charter school students are notified annually in advance and in writing of the proposed exchange of address lists and given the opportunity to object to the release of their students’ name(s) and address as required by the Family Education and Privacy Act.[1]

D. Post-secondary Education and Employment Opportunities.

1. Lists of seniors’ names, addresses and telephone numbers may be provided to any post-secondary educational institution accredited by a recognized accrediting agency and/or licensed by the state in which it is located for the limited purpose of providing information to seniors about such schools and their programs in an effort to expand the post-secondary education opportunities for WS/FCS students; provided the institution shall pay a fee for the list established by the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Superintendent.

2. Lists of juniors’ and seniors’ names, addresses and telephone numbers may also be provided to the various branches of the armed services for the purposes of providing information to juniors and seniors about career and educational opportunities in the military and to foster our nation’s defense.

E. Graduation Assistance Programs and Student Development Programs. In order to facilitate graduation assistance and student development programs such as Graduate It Pays, Senior Academy, and other similar programs operated by Communities in Schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA and YWCA, Boy and Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army, and other organizations approved by the Board of Education and in order to improve the Forsyth County graduation rate and overall development of students, lists of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of students eligible for such programs at schools served by such programs or entities may be distributed.

F. Graduated Seniors.

1. A list containing the names and last known addresses of the members of each high school’s graduating classes may be provided to any person, group, or organization responsible for organizing, promoting, or providing research services in connection with any class reunion or alumni activity for at the Board of Education approved copying fee, provided such lists are available from the WS/FCS or an individual high school.

2. If a class list is not currently available, it is not the intent of this Policy to require a school or the WS/FCS to create a list of the names and last known addresses of those students who graduated in a particular year.

F. Mailing/Distribution Lists. In order to distribute various school-sponsored or school-related publications, the WS/FCS may provide to outside agencies, for reasonable compensation, a list or lists containing students’ addresses; their grade in school; and the schools they attend, but the lists shall not identify students by name or by their parents’ names and shall not include their telephone numbers. The Board of Education shall be notified by the Superintendent or his designee whenever a mailing/distribution list is released to an outside agency pursuant to this policy.

G. PTA/PTSA. In accordance with the provisions of Policy 1210, the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent and Principals to release to the individual school PTA/PTSA student names, parents/guardians names, home addresses, email addresses, cell phone numbers, and home telephone numbers.

H. School Resource Officers. The Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent and Principals to release information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed to a School Resource Officer contracted to provide services to the school. It includes, but is not limited to, the student’s name, address, telephone listing, electronic mail address, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, dates of attendance, grade level, enrollment status, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, degrees, honors and awards received, and the most recent educational agency or institution attended. School Resources Officers can also receive class rosters.

I. Forsyth County Public Library. The Board of Education authorizes the release of students’ names, student email addresses, mailing address, date of birth/age, grade in school, parent telephone number, and school attending in order to facilitate the Forsyth County Student Access Program, a partnership with the Forsyth County Public Library, to provide free access to all Forsyth County public library locations including, but not limited to, the use of digital and print resources and other instructional support resources, for all Winston-Salem/Forsyth County students.

III. Notice to Parent--Right to Object.

A. Before any of the above directory information is distributed, the students, parents or guardians affected shall be notified, in writing, and given at least ten (10) calendar days to object to the inclusion of a name, address, telephone number or other directory information on any such list. If a parent or guardian objects, in writing, to the inclusion of his/her student’s name, address and/or telephone number on any such list, such information shall be deleted from the list. If the parents or guardians do not object within the ten (10) calendar day period, the names, addresses and/or telephone numbers and other described directory information may be included on the list.

B. Publication of the above notice annually in the WS/FCS Student-Parent Handbook shall be sufficient notice to parents of their rights under this Policy.

C. No notice is required for the release of a list containing the names and addresses of those students who have graduated from the WS/FCS.

IV. Maintenance of Confidentiality. Any person, educational institution or branch of the military receiving a list of current students and/or parents or guardian’s names, addresses and/or telephone numbers shall be notified the information is confidential and shall not be used for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was distributed and shall maintain the confidentiality of the list by not distributing it to other persons, institutions or organizations.

Adopted: March 1988

Revised: April 1991; September 1993; September 1995; December 1997; August 1998; January 2000; September 2010; May 2014; May 2015; December 2020

Latest Revisions Effective: June 2015 January 2021

Last Reviewed: April 2015 December 2020

Next Review Date: April 2018 June 2021

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[1] 20 U.S.C.A. 1232g.

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