Pupil Records
Maintaining confidentiality is the legal, ethical and professional responsibility of every member of the school community, including students, parents or guardians, teachers, aides, and all other employees. Every member of the school community must respect the privacy of all students, families, employees, the principal and the pastor.
Pupil Records
“Pupil records” means any record related to a student that is maintained by a school or one of its employees. It includes health records. It does not include “directory information” or a school employee's informal notes, if the notes remain in the sole possession of the maker and are not made available to others, except to a substitute.
Only the principal, as custodian of the records, may authorize the release of pupil records. Only teachers or administrators charged with pupil oversight have the right to view or use pupil records. A teacher’s aide may view or use pupil records only with direct teacher supervision. Pupil records may be released by judicial order such as a subpoena or a search warrant. In specific cases, such as suspicion of kidnapping, police officers may be given access to records.
Parents/guardians of minors have the absolute right to access their child’s pupil records in accordance with the school’s reasonable procedures for providing such access. Parents or legal guardians may grant any specified person written consent to access specifically identified pupil records. In cases of legal separation and/or divorce, California state law gives the custodial parent and a non-custodial parent with visitation rights, the right to access and examine pupil records. However, only the custodial parent may consent to the release of records and has the right to challenge the content of the records and to write responses to information regarding disciplinary action. A noncustodial parent without visitation rights has no right of access to records of any kind.
High School Admission Procedures
The Department of Catholic Schools recommends the following procedures for testing and evaluating high school applicants and transfer students:
Parents/guardians of a student applying for admission must obtain the high school's application packet. The application packet must include a permission form for the current school to release records to the high school. Parents/guardians must ensure that the current school releases all documents that the high school requests. See the Student Application for High School (sample) and the High School Application Checklist for Admissions Folder (sample).
All high schools administer the entrance examination for incoming students on the day established on the archdiocesan school calendar.
Schools shall cooperate with parents/guardians who request that test scores be sent to other schools.
Admissions procedures ordinarily include an interview with students and parents/guardians and confidential recommendations from teachers or administrators at the current school. Recommendations are confidential, should not be kept with pupil records, and shall not be shared with families. See the Confidential Common Evaluation Form for Students Applying to a Catholic High School.
Schools shall notify applicants concerning their admissions status on the dates indicated on the archdiocesan school calendar. See the High School Acceptance Letter (sample), and the High School Conditional Acceptance Letter (sample).
At the end of the school year, high schools will request that elementary schools submit a complete transcript for each incoming freshman.
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