On March 21, 2012, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Frederic School District. This is the departments decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district, during the 2010-11 school year, improperly disclosed personally identifiable information from the childs pupil record.
The child with a disability is a resident of one district but is being educated in the Frederic School District through a tuition agreement between the administrators of the two districts. On February 29, 2012, the Frederic School District sent a letter, related to the student, to the mother, and copied the district administrator of the resident school district. The letter stated the Frederic School District was considering the termination of the tuition agreement with the resident district, and the resident district was copied on the letter to inform them of this possibility.
Through the tuition agreement, the resident school district contracted with the other school district to provide the education services to the student. As such, the resident school district did not relinquish the responsibility to educate the student, and continued to have legitimate educational interests. Under the circumstances of this case, the district properly disclosed relevant information from the childs pupil record.
This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing. You may contact Teresa Goodier, Special Education Team, at teresa.goodier@dpi.wi.gov or (608) 267-2947 if you have any questions about this decision or for technical assistance.
//signed CST 5/10/2012
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support
Dec/tag