Yearbooks: The Law And You 2023

WHAT ARE SOME SPECIAL PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS IN A SCHOOL SETTING?

Two federal privacy laws often cause confusion among school administrators and student media. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents schools from releasing an individual student’s academic records (grades, disciplinary records, scores on standardized tests) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevents health care providers from releasing information about a patient’s medical information. While academic and medical information is considered private, the consequences for non-compliance of these two laws only apply to school officials and health care providers, respectively – not to student media. Thus, a student can consent to discussing his failing grades in the yearbook without the school risking a FERPA violation, just as the yearbook staff can take a picture of an athlete injured on the field without risking a HIPAA violation. These laws are complex. For instance, while FERPA makes it illegal for a school to release a student’s educational records, the Supreme Court ruled in Owasso v. Falvo (2002) that it was not a FERPA violation for students to grade each other’s papers in class.

Photo by Nathaniel George

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