Chalkbeat reports that a parent has filed a federal complaint against Success Academy for releasing her daughter’s records to the media.
A former Success Academy parent filed a federal privacy complaint Thursday claiming the charter network violated her daughter’s rights by releasing her education records to a reporter, including notes from psychologists and her special education learning plan.
The complaint — which is unlikely to result in consequences for Success — comes in response to a Chalkbeat story published Saturday about Jazmiah Vasquez, a seven-year-old student with autism who has not been in school for a year and a half.
Lisa Vasquez, the student’s mother, claimed that Success Academy Prospect Heights, the last school Jazmiah attended, effectively pushed her out by repeatedly calling home about behavioral issues, threatening to call child services, and sending her back to kindergarten after she started first grade.
In response to questions from Chalkbeat about those allegations, Success officials provided detailed records of Jazmiah’s time at the city’s largest charter network, including contemporaneous notes from multiple educators and psychologists, progress reports, and a copy of Jazmiah’s individualized education program, a document that lays out students’ special education needs and services….
Success officials defended their disclosure of student records on the grounds that parents implicitly waive their rights if they go public with their complaints about a school.
An expert quoted in the article disagreed that the parent had waived her rights by filing a complaint and going public.
Apparently FERPA is toothless since no school has ever been sanctioned by loss of federal funds for violating the privacy rights of students.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Are the pubic schools in her area really that bad? Why advise this child to go to a private school when they definitely don’t have the resources for special education?
Are the cracks in education really this big?
I’ve had many music classes with special education children but that was a number of years ago in Illinois.
Success Academy charter schools are publicly funded, so there is no tuition as would be the case with private schools. they are, technically, public schools, although they are privately managed.
if this makes no sense to you, then you now understand charter schools completely.
great summation! IF THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO YOU, then you now understand charter schools completely.
Yes!
This was a very revealing article because the parent of the child made accusations against BOTH the New York City Department of Education and Success Academy.
While the DOE chose not to destroy the reputation of a child to defend itself, the administrators at Success Academy are so certain that their own careers are more important than the life of any one child that they made a determined effort to publicly destroy that child’s reputation. What kind of people are they?
Success Academy spokeswoman Ann Powell makes a lucrative living by defending Eva Moskowitz’ right to destroy this child’s reputation in the name of making Success Academy look better. I can’t imagine what kind of horrid person she is to decide that harming a child is necessary to keep her very generous salary in place. Does she ever say no to something Eva Moskowitz orders her to defend? Or does Ann Powell do it because she too enjoys the pleasure of showing that any person who dares to criticize Eva Moskowitz or Success Academy will have her child fair game as a target for public shaming that will follow her always. The complicit Success Academy staff who get ahead because all the ones with moral compasses walk away are there to do the dirty work.
Is Ann Powell a parent herself? It is hard for me to understand the ethical and moral compass of those who would throw small children under the bus when it is not necessary (and frankly, against the law).
And the response of the NYC Department of Education — which did NOT do what Success Academy did and defend itself by destroying a child — shows just how repellent these women and men of Success Academy truly are. The DOE employees demonstrate how one acts when they have moral compasses. But over at Success Academy, the men and women who rise in the ranks — who don’t walk away — always understand that no single child’s reputation or well-being is as important as pleasing their leader and they have become a cult of followers very similar to those who follow Trump no matter what he does.
It was not necessary for Ann Powell and others at Success Academy to publicly release records to make a child look terrible and awful. They did it because they WANTED to do it. Maybe it was to send a message to other parents — we will be delighted to destroy your child if you complain.
I suggest that the Ursula LeGuin short story ““The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” be required reading for Ann Powell and other Eva Moskowitz’ followers. Powell is one of the ones who would never walk away from Omelas. She would rather defend what happens to the child in the basement as absolutely necessary.
What a sad state that in our America, Powell and those like Trump and DeVos who adore Moskowitz for her help and who embrace this ugly philosophy are now in power. It is always fine to destroy the most vulnerable when your own interests are at stake. That is the Success Academy way. That is the Trump way. No wonder Moskowitz worked so hard for DeVos.
I’m not an attorney but it appears to me the release of the psychological reports is a violation of HIPPA. This child has autism and confidential mental health treatment and their records are protected health information. I can not comprehend that the spokesperson would release these records on their own accord and defend their actions by saying: “Moreover, we urged you to protect the privacy of Ms. Vasquez and her child by not using their real names, but you declined to do so.” Success Academy’s response should have been we do not comment on current or former students. In addition to FERPA
and possibly HIPPA this student is also protected under section 504 of the ADA. There actions to release this information may have also violated her protected ADA rights.
In my opinion-The psychologist providing the students’s treatment, , should also file a complaint against Success Academy-unless they provided permission in writing to release these records. I feel for this family-this situation is devastating and appalling.
I believe that there were things written into ESA that eroded HIPPA (?) I can remember that the mental health community was not very happy with the wording as it would allow medical information to be released.
Your points are well taken. I am not a lawyer either but this case is certainly in need of some legal follow-up.
The original complaint against Success Academy was wide-ranging types of harassment over absenteeism. The release of student records was foul play and illegal, but let’s not forget about the problem that started this. Public schools call home to try to counsel absent students back in to school; we don’t call to make complaints and threats to counsel absent students out of school. A public school supports students. But then, a Success Academy school isn’t a public school. Success Academy schools attack students instead of helping them. Get rid of annual testing, and maybe Success Academy will have no reason to push students out rather than educating them.
Excellent point about how recalcitrant students are handled differently.
Any person at an administrative level in education should know the state and federal laws about student records. Why would someone at the top of this organization not know this ?
Of course they know the law. This happened before.
But the only people with any oversight are the complicit board members and staff at the SUNY Charter Institute.
And I am positive that the SUNY Charter Institute will do what they always do whenever wrongdoing about Success Academy gets caught on video or print where they can’t pretend it didn’t happen.
The trustees of the SUNY Charter Institute will write a strongly worded e-mail and send it straight to their draft folder.
Or they will shake their head vigorously and wag their finger once, or perhaps twice.
Like Trump, Success Academy has absolutely no reason to stop what they are doing as long as they feel protected by the very institution that has traded in its oversight duties for cheerleading duties.
*Apologies to Saturday Night Live’s writers. The similarities between Trump-enabler Susan Collins and the Moskowitz-enablers at the SUNY Charter Institute are remarkable.
Moskowitch is rude people. Moskowitch is vile and she would put any kids information out to dry and the hell with any parent. Who in their right mind, seriously here, who is their right mind would trust leaving their precious child in the hands of people – the success schools under moskowtich – The success schools lack trust and trust is a huge part of what a school can offer a parent – the trust knowing that your child will be treated and handled with total respect – not screaming and tearing up papers in front of a childs face