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Court to Hear School Privacy Case

By KELLY KURT
.c The Associated Press

 
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court, taking up the privacy issue, has agreed to decide whether to end common classroom practices such as allowing students to grade each other's assignments and posting honor rolls.

The court announced Monday it will hear the appeal of Owasso Public Schools. Kristja J. Falvo sued the district in 1998, alleging her three children - ranging from ninth to 11th grade - were embarrassed when other students graded their work and then called grades out to the teacher.

A federal judge sided with the district, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that the grading practice violated the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.

The act prohibits educational institutions from releasing ``education records of students ... without the written consent of their parents.'' The appeals court found that grades students report to the teacher constitute ``education records.''

``Our argument is if the governmental agency by law is prohibited from disclosing the information, then they're prohibited from disclosing it when they are collecting the information,'' said Will Wright, attorney for the Falvos.

Owasso school officials had argued that privacy wasn't an issue because teachers gave students a choice of not reporting their grades aloud. The officials also said student-graded assignments often were not recorded.

Even placing a gold star on a student's artwork could possibly be considered disclosure under the federal appeals court decision, said Jerry A. Richardson, attorney for the suburban Tulsa district.

``And the fact your star quarterback is not playing ... is that a disclosure when the fact he's not playing reveals he didn't having passing grades this week?'' Richardson said.

Superintendent Dale Johnson said that Owasso instructed teachers to stop student grading after the complaints were raised.

On the Net: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html and click on 10th Circuit.

AP-NY-06-25-01 1856EDT

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