The following
notices are from the California Department of Education regarding the Morgan Hill case
(Notice of Disclosure of Records and Objection to the Disclosure of Information
and Records). More information and questions can be obtained by calling
1-916-319-0800.
In April 2012, two organizations, the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association and the Concerned
Parent Association (Plaintiffs), filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Education (CDE)
alleging widespread, systemic non-compliance by local education agencies with the IDEA and
Section 504. The suit also alleges the CDE fails to monitor, investigate and correct such noncompliance
in accordance with the law. (See case # 2:11-cv-03471-KJM-AC) The CDE denies these
allegations and is actively defending the litigation.
As part of the litigation discovery process, Plaintiffs have requested numerous documents, as well as
student data collected and stored by the CDE. Many of the requested documents and data stored in
the CDE databases contain personally identifiable information (PII) of children, including children
with disabilities, children who requested an assessment or who were assessed for special education
eligibility, and children who are attending, or who have attended, a California school at any time
since January 1, 2008. Although the CDE has contested the production of such information, the
court at this juncture has ordered the CDE to produce to Plaintiffs’ legal counsel documents and data
that contain student PII. Included in the court’s order to produce documents and data is a Protective
Order prohibiting the Plaintiffs and their legal counsel from disclosing confidential information
acquired in the course of the lawsuit, including PII, to anyone other than the parties, their attorneys
and consultants, and the Court. None of this information may be used outside the context of this
lawsuit; no student’s identifying records will be disclosed to the public.
As you know, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) sets out the requirements for
the protection of privacy of parents and students, including privacy of student records. Generally,
parents and/or students must provide written consent before an educational agency may disclose
PII. However, there are exceptions to this general rule. Specifically, an educational agency must
provide PII when ordered by a court, which the CDE has been ordered to do in this litigation. The
CDE is obligated to inform the parent or student that the court has ordered it to produce documents
and/or data that includes those individuals’ PII, and that such persons may object directly to the
court regarding this disclosure. To that end, and to comply with FERPA, the CDE is requesting LEAs
and SELPAs post the following link to CDE’s website
http://www.cde.ca.gov/morganhillcase from
February 1, 2016, through April 1, 2016. The link provides the Notice and Objection Form required
by FERPA.