Analyzing Teacher Rights and FERPA Court Cases

Analyzing Teacher Rights and FERPA Court Cases

Scenario: A Teacher Posts a “Joke” on Facebook about Their Students’ Laziness

The action that I would follow in the scenario above is issuing a warning to the teacher about posting Facebook posts about students and ordering her to remove the Facebook post. This action would be appropriate because even though the teacher may argue that it violates her freedom of speech, it violates the teacher’s duty to create a conducive learning environment by creating hostility between the teacher and the student. As the principal, I can also defend my actions by applying the arguments used by the Administrative Law Judge in Jennifer O’Brien’s case, where Jennifer O’Brien, a school teacher at Tenured New Jersey Elementary School, was suspended for posting a negative post about her students. According to O’Connor & Schmidt (2015), the Administrative Law Judge argued that the teacher had failed to meet her duty as a professional teacher by failing to preserve a caring, safe, and nurturing learning environment and had put the students’ mental well-being at risk. Therefore, I could explain to the teacher that she is being suspended because her post threatened the mental well-being of the students, and they may feel that the teacher does not appreciate their efforts.

Scenario: A Teacher Shares Information about a Student’s Health Issue with Another Parent

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act gives eligible students or parents more control over their academic records and prohibits learning institutions from disclosing information in the education records that can be used to personally identify a student without the written consent of an eligible student or a student’s parent if the student is a minor (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2022). Therefore, sharing information about a student’s health issue with another parent in class violates FERPA because the student’s health information is personally identifiable information that should only be shared after obtaining written consent from the student or their parents.

Scenario: A Teacher Participating in Political Rallies After School Hours

In the scenario above, the teacher has free speech rights because the teacher is participating in the political rally as a private citizen since her participation is after school hours. According to the National Education Association (2023), teachers are protected by the First Amendment if they speak when they are not performing job functions within their scope of employment. Therefore, the parent’s complaint that the teacher is sending the wrong message about the teacher’s behavior cannot be used to take action against the teacher because the teacher is exercising their right to freedom of speech.

Scenario: A Teacher Notices Bruises on a Student’s Upper Arm

According to Trimmer et al. (2018), teachers must observe the mandatory reporting legislation to respond to and identify child maltreatment. Therefore, in this scenario, the teacher needs to inform the principal about the bruises on the student’s arm so that the matter can be investigated to determine whether the child is a victim of abuse and maltreatment. Reporting the matter to the principal is the appropriate action because withholding information about a child’s abuse is a violation of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act states that teachers can face disciplinary action, including criminal liabilities and termination, if they fail to report any suspicion of child mistreatment or abuse (Childress, 2021). Therefore, the teacher should not hesitate to report the child’s bruises even though the child has not explained the source.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 27). Family educational rights and privacy act (FERPA). https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/ferpa.html

Childress, H. (2021, July 20). 12.2: What are teachers’ rights and responsibilities? Social Sci LibreTexts. https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Education_and_Professional_Development/Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment_(Kidd_et_al.)/12%3A_Ethics_and_Law/12.02%3A_What_are_teachers’_rights_and_responsibilities

National Education Association. (2023). Educator rights and political participation. NEA. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-rights-and-political-participation

O’Connor, K. W., & Schmidt, G. B. (2015). “Facebook Fired”: Legal standards for social media-based terminations of K-12 public school teachers. SAGE Open, 5(1), 215824401557563. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015575636

Trimmer, K., Dixon, R., & Findlay, Y. S. (2018). The Palgrave handbook of education law for schools. Palgrave MacMillan.

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Assignment 7: Analyze Teacher Rights and FERPA Court Cases

Analyze the scenarios below, and then, explain what you would do in the situation and why. Use court cases and other applicable laws to support your decisions. You will need at least one reference for each of the scenarios below. Be specific in your response about your actions as the teacher’s supervisor and explain why you would move forward with your planned action.
A teacher posted a ”joke” on Facebook about their students being lazy. As the principal, you heard about the post and need to decide what action you are allowed to take. You need to consider what implications this action has on free speech.

Analyzing Teacher Rights and FERPA Court Cases

A teacher shared information about a student’s health issue with another parent in the class. The teacher felt the parent needed to know the information. Has the teacher violated FERPA?

A teacher participates in a political rally after school hours. A parent comes to you as the principal and has concerns about this teacher’s behavior. The parent feels that this sends the wrong message to students. Does the teacher have free speech rights in this case?

A teacher notices that there are bruises on a student’s upper arm. When asked what happened, the student becomes very quiet and doesn’t answer. As a mandated reporter, what does the teacher need to do?
Requirements
Length: 1pages