East Haddam 26-0496

Complaint Summary

Date Findings Report Sent

May 15, 2026

Case Number

26-0496

School District

East Haddam

Person filing complaint

Attorney

Grade Level

Middle School

Allegation(s)

  1. The Attorney alleged that the District disclosed the Parent’s personally identifiable information at a Board of Education meeting, without their consent. (34 CFR § 300.324)

Conclusion(s)

  1. The IDEA contains safeguards to ensure the confidentiality of personally identifiable information. (34 CFR § 300.324). The safeguards have four elements, one of which is to protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable information at collection, storage, disclosure, and destruction stages. The District violated 34 CFR § 300.324, when it distributed a special education budget form with the Parent’s name on at a public meeting, and did not protect the confidentiality of this personally identifiable information. There is no evidence that there were any further disclosures of the Parent’s personally identifiable information besides this one occurrence on January 8, 2026.

Corrective Action(s)

  1. The District shall attest that it has not disclosed the Parents’ or the Student’s personally identifiable information in any other forum or in any other document that is not allowed by the IDEA.
  2. The District has proactively, “retrieved the information from the Board members who received it, and has informed all recipients of the confidential nature of the information.” Documentation that this has been completed must be sent to this office.
  3. The District shall provide training regarding IDEA and FERPA confidentiality requirements on or before June 27, 2026 to all relevant personnel who are responsible for preparing documents for the public, such as any materials distributed at board of education meetings. The training materials, as well as a list of the participants and their roles, shall be sent to this office.
  4. The District shall conduct a review of its policies and procedures regarding personally identifiable information and ensure that they comply with the IDEA and FERPA. After this review, the District must provide this office with a copy of these policies and procedures.