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FERPA Opt-Out Notice and Form

Opt-Out Notice

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), requires that Shoreline Public Schools, with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure information from your child's education records. However, Shoreline Public Schools may disclose appropriately designated "directory information" without written consent, unless you request and file a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Directory information is defined as the student’s: name, photograph, video image, address, telephone number, email address, date and place of birth, dates of attendance, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, diplomas and awards received and the most recent previous school attended.

Below is a list of categories you are able to restrict the release of information for by submitting the FERPA Opt-out Form, which is available in each school’s office.

Student Directory Information for School Publications, Images and News Media

Shoreline Public Schools is proud of our students, staff and many successful programs. From time to time, students may be identified, photographed and/or videotaped for school yearbooks, school newsletters, videos, webpages, social media, or by local news media. You can opt out of having this information released for this purpose by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Parent/Guardian Contact Information for School PTA/PTSA Organizations

School Parent Teacher Student Associations sometimes request parent/guardian contact information for PTSA directories and mailings regarding membership, meetings, events and activities. You can opt out of having this information released for this purpose by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Student Directory Information for Educational Institutions and Organizations

Colleges, trade/technical schools, scholarship programs and other educational organizations sometimes request directory information to send information about their programs, opportunities and services. You can opt out of having this information released for this purpose by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Student Directory Information for the U.S. Military (High School Only)

Federal law requires high schools to release home contact information for all high school students to military recruiter unless parents/guardians deny the release of this information. You can opt out of having this information released for this purpose by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Student Directory Information for Contracted Vendors Supporting Senior Activities (High School Only)

Directory information may be shared with vendors contracted by the high schools to support senior activities, such as: caps, gowns, rings, senior photos, senior spree, etc. You can opt out of having this information released for this purpose by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Student Directory and Parent/Guardian Contact Information for All Purposes

You may also request that your student directory or parent/guardian contact information (address, phone number and email) be kept confidential and not be published or shared for any purpose. You can opt out of having this information released by requesting and filing a FERPA Opt-Out Form with your child’s school.

Learn more about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Opt-Out Form

When you have completed the form below, please turn it in to your child's school office. A FERPA form must be submitted for each child, each school year.

English FERPA Opt-Out Form

Amharic FERPA Opt-Out Form

Arabic FERPA Opt-Out Form

Chinese FERPA Opt-Out Form

Korean FERPA Opt-Out Form

Spanish FERPA Opt-Out Form

Tagalog FERPA Opt-Out Form

Tigrinya FERPA Opt-Out Form

Vietnamese FERPA Opt-Out Form

We often get asked if a student's photo or directory information can be shared in one place but not others; for example, just in a school yearbook but not on social media, or only in printed materials but not in digital.

When maintaining the privacy of students at the scale of a school (hundreds of students) and the district (thousands of students), individual family preferences would be unduly burdensome to record and adhere to.  While one family might be comfortable with their child appearing in a yearbook but not mass media, another family might be comfortable with mass media but draw the line at social media, another may be okay with printed materials but not a digital newsletter, and yet another might feel comfortable with their child's photo appearing without identifying information included. With all the ways content is produced and distributed, new methods emerging rapidly, and the variety of comfort and family preferences, opting out from school publications, images, and news media must be "all or nothing" in order to be sustainable for staff to manage year to year.