We published an article, Parent Observations v. Student Confidentiality, in the xxx newsletter.

The article generated a surprising amount of interest. 

One individual wrote:

"As a current child advocate and retired special education director, your response left out one possible scenario, the special education director may have simply been trying to protect the privacy rights of students receiving special education services. School district personnel have been trained to honor the privacy of students identified and/or receiving special education services.  

"Your responses assumed the negative, trying to hide something or keep parents from involvement."

Our response: I don't think our response assumed the negative. Pete wrote that a hearing officer or ALJ may think the refusal to allow the parent to observe was because the school had something to hide. 

We also wrote xx, yyy

A staff attorney with the Education Law Center in PA sent two opinion or policy letters, one from the director of the Family Policy Compliance Office (the agency that administers FERPA) and one from the former Director of OSEP that may clarify the issue. 

The FPCO director advised that the Family Educational Rights xx Privacy act protects the confidentiality of education records. he said  FERPA does not prohibit a parent or professional working with the parent from observing a child in the classroom. ADD LINK  

The Director of the Office of Special Education Programs wrote that while IDEA 97 strengthened and expanded the role of parents in educational decision-making, IDEA does not provide parents with a specific right to observe their child's classroom or proposed placement. She advised  that OSEP encourages schools and parents to work together and would encourage school personnel to allow observations. ADD LINK TO LETTER

Strategy: 

If you are a parent who finds yourself in this situation, what should you do?

Your goal is not to force Dr. A to admit that he was wrong. If you do not allow him to save face, you will polarize the situation with school personnel and your child is likely to be the loser. Your goal is to solve the problem, protect your relationships with school personnel, and move on.  

Write a polite business letter to Dr. A, the person who (erroneously) said that parents are not allowed to observe their child's classroom because of confidentiality rights of other students. 

Describe your request and your understanding of what Dr. A said. Include a summary of the the letters from the Family Policy Compliance Office and the Office of Special Education Programs about this issue. Describe your confusion since they do not support Dr. A's position. Reiterate your desire to observe the classroom. Ask for a response within a reasonable period of time - say 10 days. Attach copies of both letters from the U. S. Department of Education.