Minnesota parents can be kept in the dark about important developments in their child’s life by school administrators and teachers who have broad authority under a widely adopted Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) policy to withhold information they deem sensitive.
At least 229 school districts in Minnesota maintain a “Protection and Privacy of Pupil Records” policy, according to the watchdog group Defending Education.
Based on language put out by the MSBA, the policy lists several categories of information educators are entitled to withhold from parents at a student’s behest, including, crucially, information related to the child’s health, which can only be released …