How is this not a blatant violation of FERPA?
So I don't understand how the school system is giving the police direct access to a student's grades? Seems unlawful.
>Sue the school system
No. The article states that the school already lost grant funding because an organization didn't like what they were doing. I'd also be willing to bet the school is doing this due to lack of funding to begin with. Taking even more of their funding away would not help anything.
I respectfully disagree. The ability to sue public institutions -- schools, police departments, cities, etc. -- when they do wrong is key to accountability. It is never the preferred way, but sometimes it's a legitimate last resort.
I also would not characterize it as taking your own money away from students. If a man was going to buy his daughter an expensive birthday present, but he drives drunk and crashes into my house, I might sue him, and he might have to give me the money he was planning to use to buy the present. But have I deprived the girl of her present, or has he? In the same way, it is the public institutions, and their leaders, who are at fault if they conduct themselves in a way that leads to legal liabilities, not the victims who sue. The students who are deprived of resources as a result of those legal liabilities should blame the school administration, not the victims.