                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

TRANSFER AND MANAGEMENT OF SCHOLASTIC RECORDS; DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION IN
COURT NOTICES; PENALTY (§ 22.1-289)

A. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Scholastic record&#8221; means those records that are directly related
to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a
party acting for the agency or institution. These include, but are not limited
to, documentation pertinent to the educational growth and development of
students as they progress through school, student disciplinary records,
achievement and test data, cumulative health records, reports of assessments for
eligibility for special education services, and Individualized Education
Programs. Such records may be recorded in any way, including, but not limited
to, handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm,
and microfiche.
			A notice of adjudication or conviction received by a superintendent relating
to an incident that did not occur on school property or during a
school-sponsored activity shall not be a part of a student&#8217;s scholastic
record.
			&#8220;Scholastic record&#8221; also does not include records of
instructional, supervisory, administrative, and ancillary educational personnel
that are kept in the sole possession of the maker of the record and are not
accessible or revealed to any other person except a temporary substitute for the
maker of the record.

B. Whenever a pupil transfers from one school division to another, the
scholastic record or a copy of the scholastic record and a copy of the complete
student disciplinary record, including copies of any relevant correspondence
sent to the pupil or such pupil&#8217;s parent and copies of any correspondence
and documentation relating to such pupil&#8217;s placement in an alternative
education program pursuant to &#xA7; 22.1-209.1:2 or 22.1-277.2:1, shall be
transferred to the school division to which the pupil transfers upon request
from such school division. Permission of the parent, guardian, or other person
having control or charge of the student shall not be required for transfer of
such scholastic and disciplinary records to another school or school division
within or outside the Commonwealth.

C. Any notice of disposition received pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-305.1 shall not be
retained after the student has been awarded a diploma or a certificate as
provided in &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:4.

D. Every student&#8217;s scholastic record shall be available to the student and
his parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student
for inspection during the regular school day. Permission of the parent,
guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student, or of a
student who is 18 years of age or older, shall not be required for transfer of
such scholastic record to another school or school division within or outside
this Commonwealth.
			Consistent with federal law and regulation, each school shall annually notify
parents of students currently enrolled and in attendance of their rights under
the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. &#xA7; 1232g)
and related regulations.
			A school responding to a request for the transfer of the scholastic record
from another school division need not provide written notice of the transfer of
the record, including the identity of the requester, to the parent, guardian, or
other person having control or charge of the student, or to a student who is 18
years of age or older, if the school has previously included in the annual
notice required by this subsection a statement that it forwards such records to
such requesting school divisions.

E. Whenever the division superintendent is notified by the Department of
Juvenile Justice, pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-287, or by a school division employee
responsible for education programs in a local jail or a detention center, that a
pupil who last attended a school within the school division is a pupil in a
school of a juvenile correctional center of the Department of Juvenile Justice,
or a pupil in an educational program in a local jail or detention center, the
school division superintendent or his designee shall transfer the scholastic
record of such pupil to the designated juvenile correctional center or local
jail or a detention center, as the case may be, within five work days. The
Department of Juvenile Justice shall transfer the scholastic record of a student
who has been discharged from a juvenile correctional center to the relevant
school division within five work days of the student&#8217;s discharge.
			The Board of Education shall adopt regulations concerning the transfer and
management of scholastic records from one school division to another, to the
learning centers of the Department of Juvenile Justice, and to educational
programs in local jails and detention centers.
			Upon receiving notice of a foster care placement of a student across
jurisdictional lines, the sending school division and the receiving school
division, as such school divisions are defined in subsection D of &#xA7;
22.1-3.4, shall expedite the transfer of the scholastic record of the student.

F. The division superintendent or his designee shall notify the local police or
sheriff&#8217;s department for investigation as a possible missing child of any
enrolled pupil whose scholastic record he is unable to obtain within 60 days or
sooner, if the division superintendent or his designee has reason to suspect
that the pupil is a missing child.

G. Superintendents and their designees shall be immune from any civil or
criminal liability in connection with any notice to a police or sheriff&#8217;s
department of a pupil lacking a scholastic record or failure to give such notice
as required by this section.

H. Except as provided in &#xA7;&#xA7; 16.1-309 and 22.1-287 and this section, a
superintendent or his designee, or other school personnel who unlawfully
discloses information obtained pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-305.1 is guilty of a
Class 3 misdemeanor.

I. After a child with a disability, as defined in &#xA7; 22.1-213, graduates
from, ages out of, or otherwise leaves any public elementary or secondary school
in the Commonwealth, such school shall retain the special education records of
such child for at least seven years. Each such school shall notify the parents
of each such child of the opportunity to obtain such records during such
retention period.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 22-275.28; 1975, c. 639; 1980, c. 559; 1985, c. 593;
1990, c. 797; 1991, c. 295; 1993, cc. 740, 889; 1994, cc. 808, 835, 913; 1996,
c. 1000; 2000, c. 86; 2005, c. 343; 2006, c. 47; 2012, cc. 803, 835; 2024, cc.
8, 61, 468, 502.