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On November 12, 2024, The Boston Globe published an article depicting the experiences of some families who have children with disabilities as they seek educational services and revealing the range of differences in the resources provided among Massachusetts school districts as well as the use of non-disclosure clauses in settlement agreements.
‘I want to scream, but can’t.’ The Hidden World of Special Education Settlements in Massachusetts was researched for over a year by the authors. In the process they obtained settlement agreements from 141 of 501 school districts. Links to those agreements were embedded within the article.
Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) was among the districts that gave The Globe documents. Readers could open the settlement agreements of eight SPS families. Redaction was so poorly done that some personal information was visible. In two cases the student’s name was left unredacted.
A stir of alarm rippled through SPS families whose students receive special education services, particularly families directly impacted. Under the federal law Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), enacted in 1974, every student has the right to privacy. Shockingly this breach involved legal documents with non-disclosure clauses going out to the whole audience of The Boston Globe with personal details visible. How could this be?
Through a public records request we obtained communications between The Globe and SPS. Most involved negotiating the scope of and fee for SPS’ response to The Globe’s public records request. That went on for months with eight documents eventually being released. After the privacy breach drew reactions from families, SPS again contacted The Globe, but by phone. Soon a final email was sent including the statement:
Please see the attached redacted Sudbury Settlement Agreements that we improved. Thank you so much for accepting our edits.
SPS knew (and still knows) they erred. The second set of documents was fully redacted, but private information had already been made extremely public.
In the SPS Policy Manual under JRA – Student Records is found:
…these records [will] be readily available to appropriate school personnel, be accessible to the student’s parents or legal guardian and/or the student in accordance with law, and yet be guarded as confidential information.
The Superintendent will provide for the proper administration of student records in keeping with state and federal requirements…
In April 2025 we asked that the Superintendent openly address the breaches of student confidentiality with an explanation of procedures and oversight to be implemented to prevent future violation of students’ privacy. No response has yet appeared.
Having federal law and a stated policy was not enough a year ago. Without clear procedures and capable oversight can SPS families be sure that their student’s information will be “guarded as confidential” the next time a journalist submits a public records request to SPS? Will the Superintendent step up and tell SPS families what has been put in place to guarantee that no such breach of privacy will happen again?
We hope Policy JRA – Student Records will be on the SPS School Committee agenda very soon.