The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”).

A detailed parent's guide is available through the US Department of Education.

Mountainair Public Schools follows procedures contained in the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (NMSA 1978, §14-2-1 to –12) and the New Mexico Attorney General's published compliance guide.

By law, under the Inspection of Public Record Act (IPRA), every person has the right to inspect public records of the Mountainair Public Schools district. The district is responsible for making public records, in its possession or that it is responsible for, available for inspection.

All requests to view public records shall provide the name, address, and telephone number of the person requesting access to the records and shall identify the records being sought with reasonable particularity. No person requesting records shall be required to state the reason for the inspecting the records.

Mountainair Public Schools may charge reasonable fees for copying public records; may charge actual costs associated with downloading copies of public records to a computer storage device, including the actual cost of the storage device; may charge the actual costs associated with transmitting copies of public records by mail, electronic mail, or facsimile; may require advance payment of the fees before making the copies; shall provide a receipt upon request.

You may deliver requests using any of the following methods:

Once a request has been received, the district's Custodian of Records will respond in writing within three business days to acknowledge receipt of the request. After determining that the requested records exist, and are subject to inspection, copies of records will be made available for review. Arrangements can be made to have the requests mailed, if necessary. The requestor will be notified of associated costs for copies and delivery of requested records. Please note: educational records are not public records.

The district does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education programs or activities it operates, and, as a recipient of federal funding, the district is required by Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq., and federal regulations published in 34 C.F.R. Part 106, pursuant thereto, not to discriminate in such a manner. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission, to employment, and to sexual harassment. Any inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations to the district may be referred to the district’s Title IX Coordinator(s), the Assistant Secretary of the federal Department of Education, or both.

Title IX Coordinator: Pedro Vallejo

Title IX Complaint Form