The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable U.S. Department of Education program.

FERPA gives parents certain rights concerning their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students."

• Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, parents or eligible students can't review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.

• Parents or eligible students can request that a school correct records they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.

• Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31).

• School officials with legitimate educational interests;

  • Other schools to which a student is transferring;

  • Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;

  • Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;

  • Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;

  • Accrediting organizations;

  • To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;

  • Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies and

  • State and local authorities within a juvenile justice system, under specific State law.

Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, a webpage, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

GDRSD may share student data with vendors that provide online instructional applications that students use, which is an institutional function or service. Most software and curriculum-related vendors sign a student data privacy agreement with our school district or other Massachusetts-based public school districts, found at the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC).

Google Workspace for Education Privacy Policy

Students will use their Google Workspace for Education accounts to complete assignments, communicate with their teachers, and learn 21st-century digital citizenship skills.

Further, we allow students to access additional third-party services with their Google Workspace for Education accounts. We enable access to these third-party services with your student’s Google Workspace for Education account and authorize the disclosure of data, as requested by the third-party academic software and curriculum.

Google provides information about the information it collects and how it uses and discloses the information it collects from Google Workspace for Education accounts in its Google Workspace for Education Privacy Notice. You can read the Google Notice Online for more information.

Apptegy Privacy Policy

Apptegy partners with GDRSD, supporting nearly all communication methods in our community, from websites to mass communication emails. Apptegy only uses student information to provide Thrillshare to you and your users. The data collected by GDRSD and shared with Apptegy is necessary for that limited purpose. GDRSD always directly controls the use and maintenance of all student information. Please see Apptegy's Privacy Policy for more detailed information.

ClassLink Privacy Policy

ClassLink partners with GDRSD by providing staff and students access to curriculum software via a management portal. ClassLink LaunchPad provides our entire institution with quick SSO access to a personalized portal of digital apps and resources from anywhere while protecting sensitive data with secure Multi-Factor Authentication. Please see ClassLink's Agreement with GDRSD for more detailed information.

Addtional Software

In addition, GDRSD is also affiliated with various curriculum-related software. Some more readily used vendors and privacy policy details are listed below.