The Ocean Springs School District requires that a Mississippi Cumulative Folder be kept for each student who enrolls in the district. The principal of each school will be the legal custodian of all student records for that school. Contents will include, but not be limited to, the following:
- Student’s legal name and address.
- Student’s birthday, as verified by certified birth certificate.
- Student’s social security number.
- Annual attendance records.
- Courses taken and grades earned.
- Health data.
- Observation records.
- Interest inventories.
- Test scores, including results of all assessments required by the State of Mississippi.
- Any reports pertinent to the student’s conduct and/or scholastic progress.
- Date of withdrawal or graduation.
- Other information indicated in the policies of the school board or as prescribed by the State Board of Education.
- Court orders and decrees concerning custody and guardianship.
- Certified birth certificate. (required at enrollment for students entering in Kindergarten and first grade; all others have sixty days to provide the birth certificate)
- Immunization records as prescribed by the State. No student can be admitted without the state form.
- Record of a student’s expulsion from the district.
- Student access sheet to be signed by anyone accessing the student record.
- Picture of student (optional).
- Special education placement, testing results, Individual Education Plan (IEP) if applicable.
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Gifted, 504 Eligibility Statement.
Any child not in compliance with having provided the required documents at the end of sixty (60) days from the opening of the term of school shall be suspended until in compliance.
Kindergarten and first grade students are required to have a certified copy of their birth certificate and the State Immunization Record before they are enrolled.
Active permanent records are to be housed in the central administrative office of each school or the guidance office of the school. Records will be kept in folders in a fire-resistant storage unit.
To comply with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, only the following district personnel shall constitute school officials and have access to student records: Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, Director of Student Services, School Board Members, School Board Attorney, Principal, Assistant Principal(s), Guidance Counselor(s), School Secretary, and Teachers of classes in which the student is currently enrolled. Access to student records will be for the purpose of planning, implementing and reviewing a student’s instructional program, recording data, and determining that legal requirements have been met.
The cumulative folders provided for above shall be kept in the school wherein the pupils are in attendance. Both the permanent records and the cumulative folders shall be available for inspection by public and private school officials, including public school teachers within the school district who have been determined by the school district to have legitimate educational interests. In no case, however, shall such records be available to the general public. Transcripts of courses and grades may be furnished when requested by the parent or guardian or eligible pupil as prescribed in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 20 USC Section 1232. The records shall be kept for each pupil throughout his entire public school enrollment period.
In the event a pupil transfers to a public school, then the cumulative folder shall be furnished to the head of the school to which the pupil transfers; if a pupil transfers to a private school, then a copy of the cumulative folder shall be furnished to the head of the school to which the pupil transfers. The permanent record shall be kept permanently by the school district from which the pupil transferred. At no time may a permanent record of a student be destroyed, but cumulative folders may be destroyed by order of the school board of this school district in not less than five (5) years after the permanent record of the pupil has become inactive and has been transferred to the central depository of the district. However, where a school district makes complete copies of inactive permanent records on photographic film, or microfilm, or any other acceptable form of medium storage which may be reproduced as needed, the permanent records may be destroyed after the photographic film or microfilm copy has been stored in the central depository of the district. ' 37-15-3
Personal notes maintained by a principal, teacher, administrator or other employee of the district shall be considered a work product and not part of a student’s record.
In accordance with the School Board’s desire to create optimum cooperation between school officials and parents, legal guardians or guardians, information collected relating to students shall be accessible to parents, legal custodians, or guardians, and students aged eighteen (18) or over, under the conditions outlined below:
Inspection and Review of Educational Records:
1. A parent, legal guardian, or eligible student shall be allowed to inspect and review educational records of the student upon request of the parent, legal guardian or eligible student. The district shall comply with the request of a parent, legal guardian or eligible student within a reasonable time after receiving the request, but in no case more than forty-five (45) days after receiving the request. Furthermore, an eligible student, parent or legal guardian may request all records, including treatment records reviewed by a physician or professional of their choice.
2. In the event that a parent, legal guardian or eligible student shall request an explanation or interpretation of records, the district shall provide an explanation within a reasonable time.
3. Any parent, legal guardian, eligible student, or eligible school personnel who accesses a student record for any reason, must sign the student access sheet indicating the date and reason for going into the record.
4. The District shall provide the parent, legal guardian or eligible student with a copy of the student’s records if the failure to provide a copy would prevent the eligible student, parent or legal guardian from exercising rights to inspect records.
5. The District may not destroy any educational records if there is an outstanding request to review and inspect the records.
6. If the educational records of a student contain information on more than one (1) student, the eligible student, parent or legal guardian may only inspect or review or be informed of only specific information about that student and no other person or persons.
7. Parents, legal guardian or eligible students should be informed of the information contained herein by the inclusion of a statement describing the policy in the student handbook which is provided to each student.
8. After inspecting and reviewing the re cords of a student, a parent, legal guardian or eligible student may request the district to amend the student’s records if he/she believes that the information contained in the records is inaccurate, misleading or in violation of the student’s rights. Any such request shall be directed to the Superintendent or his/her designee.
9. Upon receiving a request to amend records, the District shall, within a reasonable time after receiving the request, decide whether to amend the record as requested. If the District decides not to amend the records as requested, the parent, legal guardian or eligible student shall be informed of the decision and of his/her right to a due process hearing.
The purpose of said hearing shall be to afford the parent, legal guardian or eligible student of the opportunity to challenge the content of the student’s educational records on the grounds that the information contained in the educational records is inaccurate , misleading or in violation of the student’s right to privacy, or in violation of other rights of the student.
A. A request for a hearing pursuant to this provision shall be directed to the Superintendent or his/her designee.
B. The District shall hold a hearing within a reasonable time after the request for hearing is received; however, in no event shall the hearing be more than forty-five (45) days after the request is received.
C. The hearing shall be set before the District’s Board of Trustees at the meeting following the receipt of the request.
D. The parent, legal guardian, or eligible student shall be provided with at least five (5) days advanced notice of the time, date and place of the hearing.
E. The parent, legal guardian or eligible student shall be given a full and fair opportunity to present evidence relevant to the issues. The parent, legal guardian or eligible student may also be assisted or represented by persons, including attorneys, at their own expense.
F. At the completion of the hearing, the district shall make a decision based solely upon the evidence presented at the hearing. The district’s decision must be in writing and made within ten (10) days of the hearing and shall include a summary of evidence and reasons for the decision.
LEGAL NAMES
The School Board recognizes that due to re-marriage of parents, many children In the school district have different legal names than the name of the parents. Additionally, it is recognized that children often desire to use the same name as that of the step-parent to maintain uniformity and harmony within the home.
The School Board recognizes the legal name of a child to be that name on the birth certificate of the child. Therefore, in order to ensure that a standardized system of record keeping be implemented within the school district, all school records of a child will bear the legal name of the child.
The Mississippi Public School Accountability Process Standard for this policy is 14.
LEGAL REF.: MS CODE as cited
Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards
P. L. 107-110 (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)
Family Educational and Privacy Act (FERPA)
ADOPTED: 07/13/1976
REVISED: 08/12/1980
08/13/1986
02/10/1998
08/08/2006
05/11/2010