School’s Out For Summer: Is Your School Following FERPA Guidelines?

With the school year coming to an end, it’s all too easy to assume your school’s information is safe. But with so much paperwork and private information, it’s important that you don’t slack on your school’s security.

Identity thieves won’t be taking a summer break because your students are. That said, every school administration needs to be aware of the proper way to dispose of private information.

Is Your School Following Regulation?

To protect educational facilities, the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) passed in 1974. FERPA has many regulations about the proper way to store documents and conduct paper shredding.

Although these regulations may be frustrating to some, they’re necessary to follow. This is because identity theft is a major problem.

In fact, one in every 16 American adults were the victim of identity theft in 2016 alone. And 90% of identity theft cases obtain information from print sources rather than online.

That said, proper FERPA regulations need to be followed by every school administration. This helps to ensure the safety and privacy of student and faculty information.

What Are The FERPA Guidelines?

Identity thieves often rely on tricking faculty into providing them with personal information. It’s for this reason that FERPA guidelines require a series of signatures and processes before any information can be released.

Here are a few of the following FERPA guidelines that school administrations need to follow when retaining school documents or conducting paper shredding.

• Documents need to be destroyed safely and securely so no information is capable of being obtained by any party.
• A student’s personal information can’t be released to third parties without first being given consent from a parent or guardian.
• School administrations and institutions can create their own deadlines for how long a student’s records can be retained. Different states have their own rules to follow. But once that length of time is up, the student’s information needs to be safely and properly destroyed.

Schedule Your Shredding With Professional Shredding Services

Personal paper shredders can take time and money. Professional shredding services are able to perform paper shredding at a faster speed in a secure facility.

Document destruction services can ensure your school administration’s private information is securely and safely destroyed beyond repair. To learn more about secure document destruction or to schedule your document shredding, contact Data Safe today.