Rhode Island § 16-71-3 - The Rhode Island Educational Records Bill of Rights

§ 16-71-3. Educational records access and review rights — Confidentiality of records.

(a) The parent, legal guardian, or eligible student, shall have the following enumerated rights:

(1) The right to personally inspect and review records in existence at the time of the request that are required to be kept by law or regulation of the student within ten (10) days of the request. The request shall be made to the school’s principal or designated appropriate authority;

(2) The right to a reasonable explanation and interpretation of the records;

(3) The right to copies of the records. The cost per copied page of written records shall not exceed fifteen cents ($.15) per page for records copyable on common business or legal size paper. No fee will be assessed to search for or to retrieve the records;

(4) The right to have the records preserved as long as a request to inspect is outstanding;

(5) The right to request an amendment and/or expungement of the records if the parent or eligible student believes that the information contained in these records is inaccurate, misleading, or in violation of the student’s right to privacy; this request shall be made in writing to the appropriate records keeper.

(6) The right to place a statement in the record commenting on any contested information in the record. This statement shall be maintained with the contested part of the record for as long as the record is maintained and it shall be disclosed when the portion of the record to which it relates is disclosed;

(7) The right to have the records kept confidential and not released to any other individual, agency or organization without prior written consent of the parent, legal guardian or eligible student, except to the extent that the release of the records is authorized by the provisions of 20 U.S.C. § 1232g or other applicable law or court process.

(b) Any person aggrieved under this chapter shall have the right to appeal in accordance with the provisions of chapter 39 of this title.