In accordance with state law, the Cheney school district will be destroying past students’ special education records unless they hear from the child’s parent or guardian by Sept. 30.
Under state and federal law, special education records must be maintained for six years after students’ services have ended.
“We have over time kept records way beyond the regular retention schedule, but what happens then is they start to pile up in the file cabinets and we get more and more file cabinets. Our file room is full, essentially,” Associate Superintendent Sean Dotson said.
These records are related to the identification, evaluation, educational placement or the provision of special education in Cheney public schools. The district will destroy the special education records of students who are no longer receiving services as of the end of the 2011-2012 school year or prior years.
“A student can be with us till they’re 21 and graduate,” Dotson said. “We can take all those students who were 21 in 2012 and say, we know these students exited services at least six years ago, and we can remove records up to that point.”
Some parents may want to keep these records for their own files, as they can be useful in applying for Social Security benefits, rehabilitation services and college admissions.
Due to the confidential nature of the documents, they will be thoroughly shredded, Dotson said.
Any parent or guardian who wishes to obtain a copy of these records prior to their destruction should contact Student Records at (509)559-4526 before Sept. 30.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].
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