When Hamilton County Schools informed the families of 45,000 Hamilton County Schools students that their contact information was requested by a private citizen and would be released this week because the law requires it, there was something the district didn't mention.
Parents could opt out.
Social media lit up Thursday night after parents were informed that a representative from the group Friends of Hamilton had requested parent names, street addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, grade level of children and school of enrollment for all of the county's public schoolchildren. Following heavy backlash from parents, the group rescinded its information request.
(READ MORE: Petitions circulate for new city of Hamilton)
Despite the angry responses from many, Deborah Fisher, executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, told the Times Free Press that the release of the information, called "school directory information," is common.
"It actually is accessed in very innocuous ways that parents probably don't care about - like for yearbook, yearbook is a classic example - or maybe photos for your senior year, getting marketing emails from them," Fisher said.
Student education records are protected federally under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The act defines education records as "records that are directly related to a student and that are maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for or on behalf of the agency or institution."
These records "include but are not limited to grades, transcripts, class lists, student course schedules, health records (at the K-12 level), student financial information (at the postsecondary level) and student discipline files," according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Schools can release directory information like students' names, addresses and contact information without parental consent, but are required to inform students and families and allow them to opt out of its release, according to the department.
The district's first email on Thursday evening informed parents that their information would be released this week.
"We are required by law to fulfill this request," it said in bold letters.
The email did not mention the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or the legal requirement that the district offer families an opt-out.
When asked why that option was not included in the email, spokesperson Cody Patterson said that information is provided at the beginning of each school year.
"We always intend to protect students' and their families' privacy, which is why we proactively include the FERPA notice as part of the registration/re-enrollment process every year. Families have the opportunity to opt out as part of the registration/re-enrollment process every year," Patterson said.
"We're in consultation with our board attorney on how to handle these types of requests and how to best protect the privacy of our students and their families in the future."
The Hamilton County Schools email also said that the requestor, Brendan Jennings, did not state a purpose for requesting the information, something that seemed to upset many parents.
Fisher said that generally, the law does not require people requesting public records to state a purpose for the request.
"One of the reasons that's not required is then you have government trying to pick and choose for political reasons who they give information to and who they don't," Fisher said. "So you don't want those decisions to be political."
The district's email, sent to thousands of parents, also included Jennings' name, email address and phone number. Jennings has been an advocate for creation of a city called Hamilton in the northern part of the county and has been active in the tea party movement.
(READ MORE: Friends of Hamilton amping up efforts)
On Thursday night, in an email announcement of his withdrawal of the request, Jennings offered an explanation.
"We have heard from many parents and listened to their concerns," he said. "Our intent in no way was to invade anyone's privacy, but rather to help foster closer communications among parents while increasing transparency in the classroom. Sort of an electronic PTA or NextDoor for parents."
He told the Times Free Press in a Facebook message, "Sorry to have upset parents. We have been used to getting similar information from the election commission on registered voters, and should have been more sensitive."
Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.