Student Privacy

Ewa Makai Middle School works hard to ensure we are FERPA, CIPA and COPPA compliant.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that gives parents certain protections with regard to their children’s education records, such as report cards, transcripts, disciplinary records, contact and family information, and class schedules.

As a parent, you have the right to review your child’s education records and to request changes under limited circumstances.

Each year, Hawaii public schools are required to notify parents of their rights under FERPA. These rights are generally broken into four sections. Here is a brief description of FERPA rights:

  1. The right to inspect and review the student's education records within 45 days of the request.

  2. The right to request the amendment of the student's education records that the parent, guardian, or eligible student believe are inaccurate or misleading.

  3. The right to consent to disclosures of personally identifiable information contained in the student's education records, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent. One exception that permits disclosure without consent is disclosure to school officials with legitimate educational interests.

  4. The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the school to comply with the requirements of FERPA.

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

CIPA was enacted by Congress in 2000 to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet. CIPA imposes certain requirements on schools or libraries that receive discounts for Internet access or internal connections through the E-rate program.

Learn more about CIPA.

Schools and libraries subject to CIPA are required to adopt and implement an Internet safety policy addressing:

  • Access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet;

  • The safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms and other forms of direct electronic communications;

  • Unauthorized access, including so-called “hacking,” and other unlawful activities by minors online;

  • Unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and

  • Measures restricting minors' access to materials harmful to them.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

The primary goal of COPPA is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online. COPPA was designed to protect children under age 13 while accounting for the dynamic nature of the Internet.

The Rule applies to operators of commercial websites and online services (including mobile apps) directed to children under 13 that collect, use, or disclose personal information from children, and operators of general audience websites or online services with actual knowledge that they are collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13.

The Rule also applies to websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information directly from users of another website or online service directed to children.

Want more information? Check the most Frequently Asked Questions Here.

Operators covered by the Rule must:

  1. Post a clear and comprehensive online privacy policy describing their information practices for personal information collected online from children;

  2. Provide direct notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent, with limited exceptions, before collecting personal information online from children;

  3. Give parents the choice of consenting to the operator’s collection and internal use of a child’s information, but prohibiting the operator from disclosing that information to third parties (unless disclosure is integral to the site or service, in which case, this must be made clear to parents);

  4. Provide parents access to their child's personal information to review and/or have the information deleted;

  5. Give parents the opportunity to prevent further use or online collection of a child's personal information;

  6. Maintain the confidentiality, security, and integrity of information they collect from children, including by taking reasonable steps to release such information only to parties capable of maintaining its confidentiality and security;

  7. Retain personal information collected online from a child for only as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected and delete the information using reasonable measures to protect against its unauthorized access or use; and

  8. Not condition a child’s participation in an online activity on the child providing more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity.