Release of Student Directory Information
-
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects your student’s personally identifiable information, such as education records, from being disclosed without your consent.
But the law allows North Thurston Public Schools to disclose what they call “directory information” without your consent. We do not release ANY mailing or other lists of contact information of individuals for commercial purposes. In addition, for students in grades 9-12, a separate "opt out of release of directory information” only for requests from United States military recruiters is provided by law, as explained below.
What is Student Directory Information?
Examples include:
- Student name, address, and telephone numbers (unless identified as unknown);
- Any photographs/video of your student;
- Participation in officially recognized activities and sports;
- Weight, height, grade level of athletic team members;
- Dates of attendance;
- Degrees, honors, and awards received; and/or
- Schools previously attended.
Where do we use this Directory Information?
Examples include:
- Yearbooks;
- District social media posts;
- District websites;
- Videos, including release of District-created videos to local media;
- Sport teams news reports and other coverage, including rosters; and/or
- My TRL (online-only Timberland Library Card) www.trl.org
What if I don’t want this information released?
You must submit a letter to your child’s school, each school year, by October 1, to have your student’s Directory Information not released, including in the examples listed above. Each letter is good for one school year. If you enroll your child after September 20, you must submit the letter within 10 calendar days after enrollment.
Please note!
Even for students with no FERPA opt-out letter on record, NTPS employees will exercise their best judgement when releasing directory information and seek parent/guardian permission for situations that would generally be considered outside the realm of typical school-related activities or news. Also, the District cannot control the release of certain directory information – such as photographs/images or names – when students participate in school events open to the public, such as athletics and performing arts.
Student directory information requests by outside organizations
Federal law requires the district to provide military recruiters with student contact information unless parents/guardians tell the district not to do so. If you want your child’s contact information withheld specifically from military recruiters, you must inform your school in writing by October 1 of each year.
