On September 13, 2007, the Department of Public Instruction received a complaint under state and federal special education law from XXXXX against the Milwaukee Public School District. This complaint was held in abeyance pending a due process hearing, which was completed on February 13, 2008. This is the departments decision regarding that complaint. The issue is whether the district, during the 2006-2007 school year, improperly disclosed information from students' education records without parent consent.
On October 10, 2006, a district physical therapist and a representative from a private healthcare organization met at a child's home for a wheelchair fitting. The child's parent states that the district's physical therapist talked to the private healthcare organization representative about other children, their parents, the children's medical problems, equipment needs, and trouble getting the equipment. Both the physical therapist and the private healthcare organization representative state that they did not discuss other children with the exception of confirming an appointment for another child's chair fitting. Only the first name of the child was used during the scheduling conversation.
There is no evidence the district disclosed personally identifiable information from students' education records without parent consent. This concludes our review of this complaint, which we are closing.
//signed CST 4/2/08
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
Assistant State Superintendent
Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy
Dec/jfd