L.R., ETC. VS. CAMDEN CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL./ L.R., ETC. VS. PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS TOWNSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL./ THE INNISFREE FOUNDATION VS. HILLSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION, ET AL./ THE INNISFREE FOUNDATION VS. CHERRY HILL BOARD OF EDUCATION, ET AL.
A-3972-14T4/A-4214-14T4/A-2387-15T4/A-3066-15T4(CONSOLIDATED)
These four related appeals from three vicinages concern efforts by plaintiffs (a nonprofit advocacy organization for disabled students, and the mother of a disabled student in the Camden City Public Schools) to obtain from several school districts copies of settlement agreements and records reflecting the provision of special services to other qualified students. The respective school districts resisted disclosure, citing statutory and regulatory provisions that generally safeguard the privacy of students in their records. The four cases generated conflicting decisions in the Law Division.
Plaintiffs' requests for records raise several novel issues of access under the Open Public Records Act ("OPRA"), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13, the New Jersey Pupil Records Act ("NJPRA"), N.J.S.A. 18A:36-19, and the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 ("FERPA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. The requests also implicate administrative regulations adopted under both the NJPRA and FERPA.
The panel holds that the respective plaintiffs in the Hillsborough, Parsippany-Troy Hills, and Cherry Hill cases are entitled to appropriately-redacted copies of the requested records, provided that on remand those plaintiffs either: (1) establish they have the status of "bona fide researchers" within the intended scope of N.J.A.C. 6A:32-7.5(e)(16); or (2) obtain from the Law Division a court order authorizing such access pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:32-7.5(e)(15). The school districts shall not turn over the redacted records until they first provide reasonable advance notice to the affected student's parents or guardians.
We remand the Camden City case for further proceedings with respect to requested documents that also could refer to other students, but affirm the trial court's grant of access concerning records that exclusively mention the requestor's child.
