FOIL-AO-16999

                                                                                                February 15, 2008

 

The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to issue advisory opinions.  The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the information presented in your correspondence.

Dear


            I have received your letter in which you referred to unanswered requests made to a branch of the State University and to a community college.  The requests involve whether certain individuals attended those institutions during certain years.

            In this regard, first, the Freedom of Information Law provides direction concerning the time and manner in which agencies must respond to requests.  Specifically, §89(3) of the Freedom of Information Law states in part that:

"Each entity subject to the provisions of this article, within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described, shall make such record available to the person requesting it, deny such request in writing or furnish a written acknowledgment of the receipt of such request and a statement of the approximate date, which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request, when such request will be granted or denied, which shall be reasonable in consideration of the circumstanced relating to the request and shall not exceed twenty business days from the date of such acknowledgment, except in unusual circumstances.  In the event that such unusual circumstances prevent the grant or denial of the request within twenty business days, the agency shall state in writing both the reason for the inability to do so and a date certain within a reasonable time, based on such unusual circumstances, when the request shall be granted or denied.”

            If neither a response to a request nor an acknowledgment of the receipt of a request is given within five business days, if an agency delays responding for an unreasonable time beyond the approximate date of less than twenty business days given in its acknowledgment, if it acknowledges that a request has been received, but has failed to grant access by the specific date given beyond twenty business days, or if the specific date given is unreasonable, a request may be considered to have been constructively denied [see §89(4)(a)].  In such a circumstance, the denial may be appealed in accordance with §89(4)(a), which states in relevant part that:

"...any person denied access to a record may within thirty days appeal in writing such denial to the head, chief executive, or governing body, who shall within ten business days of the receipt of such appeal fully explain in writing to the person requesting the record the reasons for further denial, or provide access to the record sought."

            Section 89(4)(b) was also amended, and it states that a failure to determine an appeal within ten business days of the receipt of an appeal constitutes a denial of the appeal.  In that circumstance, the appellant has exhausted his or her administrative remedies and may initiate a challenge to a constructive denial of access under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Rules.

            Second, the governing statute concerning access to records identifiable to students is the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), 20 USC §1232g.  In brief, FERPA applies to all educational agencies or institutions that participate in grant programs administered by the United States Department of Education.  As such, FERPA includes within its scope virtually all public educational institutions and many private educational institutions.  The focal point of the Act is the protection of privacy of students.  It provides, in general, that any "education record," a term that is broadly defined, that is personally identifiable to a particular student or students is confidential, unless the parents of students under the age of eighteen waive their right to confidentiality, or unless a student eighteen years or over, an “eligible student”, similarly waives his or her right to confidentiality.

            However, an exception to the rule of confidentiality in FERPA involves "directory information", which is defined in the regulations of the Department of Education to include:

"....information contained in an education record of a student which would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.  It includes, but is not limited to the student's name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended."

            Prior to disclosing directory information, educational agencies must provide notice to parents of students or eligible students in order that they may essentially prohibit any or all of the items from being disclosed.  Therefore, if an educational agency or institution has adopted a policy on directory information, those items designated as directory information would be available to any person.  If, however, an educational agency or institution has not adopted a policy on directory information, it would in my view be prohibited from disclosing records identifiable to students without the written consent of the parents of the minor students, or the eligible students, as the case may be.

            I hope that I have been of assistance.

                                                                                                Sincerely,

 

                                                                                                Robert J. Freeman
                                                                                                Executive Director

RJF:jm