G.C., by and through his parent R.C., and R.C., in his own right v. Capital School District

Summary

The Report and Recommendation addresses Plaintiffs’ challenge to a Delaware special-education due process decision concerning whether school-district emails mentioning a student constitute education records that must be disclosed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The court recommends granting Capital School District’s motion for summary judgment and denying Plaintiffs’ motion, concluding that emails are not per se education records unless maintained as part of the student’s official educational records. The recommendation also discusses the IDEA’s incorporation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act definition of education records and the effect of a recent Delaware statutory amendment.

Holdings

1. Routine emails are not per se education records subject to the IDEA's parental inspection right. Emails must satisfy the applicable definition of education records, including the requirement that they be maintained by the educational agency in the intentional and purposeful sense recognized under FERPA.
2. Mere storage or backup of emails on a server, including a server maintained by the State of Delaware, does not by itself satisfy FERPA's maintenance requirement or make every email an education record.
3. The 2024 amendment to 14 Del. C. § 3130(b) does not require production of every email mentioning a student because the statute limits the records subject to inspection to those concerning the child's identification, evaluation, educational program and placement, or provision of a FAPE.
4. Redaction of personally identifiable information from emails does not establish that the emails are education records subject to the IDEA's parental inspection right.

Questions Presented

1. Whether every email that mentions or relates to a student is per se an education record that must be disclosed to the student's parent under the IDEA.
2. Whether emails stored on a state-maintained email server are necessarily education records because they are digitally stored or backed up.
3. Whether redaction of personally identifiable information from emails and the 2024 amendment to 14 Del. C. § 3130(b) required production of all emails mentioning G.C.

Disposition

other