When is a photo or video of a student an education record under FERPA?

As with any other “education record,” a photo or video of a student is an education record, subject to specific exclusions, when the photo or video is:  (1) directly related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(A); 34 CFR § 99.3 “Education Record”)[1]

 

Directly Related to a Student:

FERPA regulations do not define what it means for a record to be “directly related” to a student. In the context of photos and videos, determining if a visual representation of a student is directly related to a student (rather than just incidentally related to him or her) is often context-specific, and educational agencies and institutions should examine certain types of photos and videos on a case by case basis to determine if they directly relate to any of the students depicted therein. Among the factors that may help determine if a photo or video should be considered “directly related” to a student are the following:

  • The educational agency or institution uses the photo or video for disciplinary action (or other official purposes) involving the student (including the victim of any such disciplinary incident);
  • The photo or video contains a depiction of an activity:
    • that resulted in an educational agency or institution’s use of the photo or video for disciplinary action (or other official purposes) involving a student (or, if disciplinary action is pending or has not yet been taken, that would reasonably result in use of the photo or video for disciplinary action involving a student);
    • that shows a student in violation of local, state, or federal law;  
    • that shows a student getting injured, attacked, victimized, ill, or having a health emergency;
  • The person or entity taking the photo or video intends to make a specific student the focus of the photo or video (e.g., ID photos, or a recording of a student presentation); or
  • The audio or visual content of the photo or video otherwise contains personally identifiable information contained in a student’s education record.

A photo or video should not be considered directly related to a student in the absence of these factors and if the student’s image is incidental or captured only as part of the background, or if a student is shown participating in school activities that are open to the public and without a specific focus on any individual.

Examples of situations that may cause a video to be an education record:

  • A school surveillance video showing two students fighting in a hallway, used as part of a disciplinary action, is directly related to the students fighting.   
  • A classroom video that shows a student having a seizure is directly related to that student because the depicted health emergency becomes the focus of the video. 
  • If a school maintains a close-up photo of two or three students playing basketball with a general view of student spectators in the background, the photo is directly related to the basketball players because they are the focus of the photo, but it is not directly related to the students pictured in the background. Schools often designate photos or videos of students participating in public events (e.g., sporting events, concerts, theater performances, etc.) as directory information and/or obtain consent from the parents or eligible students to publicly disclose photos or videos from these events.
  • A video recording of a faculty meeting during which a specific student’s grades are being discussed is directly related to that student because the discussion contains PII from the student’s education record.

 

Maintained by an educational agency or institution:

To be considered an education record under FERPA, an educational agency or institution, or a party acting for the agency or institution, also must maintain the record. Thus, a photo taken by a parent at a school football game would not be considered an education record, even if it is directly related to a particular student, because it is not being maintained by the school or on the school’s behalf. If, however, the parent’s photo shows two students fighting at the game, and the parent provides a copy of the photo to the school, which then maintains the photo in the students’ disciplinary records, then the copy of the photo being maintained by the school is an education record.

 

Exclusion for Law Enforcement Unit Records

The FERPA statute and regulations (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)(ii) and 34 CFR §§ 99.3 and 99.8) exclude from the definition of education records those records created and maintained by a law enforcement unit of an educational agency or institution for a law enforcement purpose. Thus, if a law enforcement unit of an educational agency or institution creates and maintains the school’s surveillance videos for a law enforcement purpose, then any such videos would not be considered to be education records. If the law enforcement unit provides a copy of the video to another component within the educational agency or institution (for example, to maintain the record in connection with a disciplinary action), then the copy of the video may become an education record of the student(s) involved if the video is not subject to any other exclusion from the definition of “education records” and the video is:  (1) directly related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. 

 

[1] The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) also contains privacy protections that apply to children with disabilities. 20 U.S.C. 1417(c) and 34 CFR §§ 300.610-300.626 and 34 CFR §§ 303.401-303.416. Under the IDEA, participating agencies must protect the personally identifiable information (PII), data, or records that are collected, maintained, or used by the participating agency. While the definition of “education record” under Part B of the IDEA cross-references the FERPA definition in 34 CFR § 99.3, the application of IDEA requirements may raise different questions.

Audience
K-12 School Officials
Parents and Students
Postsecondary School Officials
Topics
Photos and Videos under FERPA