Publisher’s note: The following letter has been sent to parents of Lake Tahoe Unified School District.

Dear Parents:

We would like to make you aware of a situation that may concern you. We were recently notified of the federal court ruling ordering the California Department of Education in Sacramento to release student records to a nonprofit parent group in the Bay Area.

While LTUSD is not involved in this legal matter, we are always concerned about student privacy. Therefore, we are providing you information on how you can protect your student and possibly not have their information released by the state.

At your school site, we have a one page objection form for you to use if you object to the federal court order regarding your child. If you do not object to the release of this information, you need do nothing.  We also have the form and additional information on our website at www.ltusd.org. The specific information is located under the parent tab at the bottom entitled Morgan Hill vs. the California Department of Education.

While submitting a form will not guarantee your student’s information will not be released, it is the only means for expressing an objection to the current order. The court also issued a Protective Order, which prohibits the plaintiff from disclosing any confidential information to anyone other than the parties, plaintiff’s attorneys and/or consultants, and the court. Thus, in no event is the information permitted to be disclosed to the public generally or be used for any reason outside of this lawsuit, and all information must be returned to the CDE or destroyed at the conclusion of the lawsuit.

Note that the Lake Tahoe Unified School District is not a party to the litigation and is not required to disclose any student data. If you have any questions, please contact CDE directly at 916.319.0800.

Thank you,

Lake Tahoe Unified School District