Campbell County student privacy and parent notifications

Start with the school form that matches your question

Campbell County Public Schools publishes several routes for parents reviewing information about their children: the annual portal checkup, a media-release form, a parental-notifications page, and student-records notices. Each serves a different purpose. A photo preference does not answer every question about a survey or access to an education record.

Use this guide for privacy and notifications. Our Campbell school board and parental-rights guide explains instructional-material notice and review procedures. The county hub connects these resources with other Campbell reporting.

Update media preferences through the 2026–27 Annual Checkup

The district’s 2026–27 Annual Checkup instructions direct families to update information in Infinite Campus. The listed items include contact details, acknowledgment of access to school documents, media and digital release preferences, the technology-use agreement, and counseling information.

To follow the posted process:

1. Open the district-linked Infinite Campus Parent Portal.
2. Choose Annual Checkup, review the forms, and update the relevant preferences.
3. Submit the information and keep a record of what you selected.

CCPS directs families who need help to their child’s school. If you are changing a preference during the year, ask the school to confirm when the change takes effect and whether an additional form is needed.

The posted photo and video form goes to the principal

The CCPS enrollment page links English and Spanish media-release forms and prints a nonconsent option. Its instructions tell a parent who objects to the described photo/video use to check the option, sign, and return the form to the school principal.

The printed option concerns displaying the child’s image on a website or releasing a photo to an organization where it could appear online. The district says staff will be notified and will try to honor the request, while its form does not guarantee that a photograph will never appear.

Keep a copy of the signed form. Ask the principal how the paper request and portal preference are recorded, and identify any particular publication or use you want clarified.

Survey notices: ask to inspect the questions

The district’s PPRA notification describes consent, notice, opt-out, and inspection rights for specified surveys and other activities. PPRA is the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

The U.S. Department of Education’s overview identifies eight protected areas. These include political beliefs, religion, sexual behavior or attitudes, mental or psychological problems, certain family appraisals, privileged relationships, illegal or self-incriminating behavior, and income subject to an eligibility exception. PPRA rights transfer to a student who turns 18 or is emancipated under state law.

When a school sends a survey notice, ask for the actual questions, the intended students, the administration date, who will receive answers, and the consent procedure. The federal notification explanation distinguishes general rights notices from notice of particular activities. Reading an annual notice alone will not identify the details of every future survey.

What the August 2026 federal letter says

In its August 26, 2026 letter to school leaders, the Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office describes its enforcement approach. It says it will treat school-staff administration of surveys covering protected subjects as required participation and expects advance written parental consent before a minor child participates. The letter says an opt-out process does not supply that consent and that the rule is not limited to surveys financed exclusively or directly with Department funds.

The letter also reiterates parents’ access, upon request, to education records, including qualifying gender-related records maintained separately from a cumulative file. These are federal statements about privacy requirements. They do not establish a Campbell policy change or a finding against CCPS. For a particular activity, ask the district which current policy and consent procedure it is applying.

How education-record access works

Under FERPA regulations, 34 CFR §§99.10–99.11, a parent or eligible student has the right to inspect and review education records within a reasonable time, with a maximum of 45 days after receipt of the request. Schools cannot charge for searching for or retrieving those records. Copy fees and arrangements for inspection are governed separately.

Ask your school for its records-access procedure. A written request can identify the student, the records or date range, and your preferred way to inspect them; request confirmation of receipt. If an entry appears inaccurate or misleading, §§99.20–99.21 provide an amendment-request and hearing process.

FERPA rights generally transfer when the student turns 18 or attends a postsecondary institution at any age. The Department’s eligible-student explanation describes that rule. For dual enrollment before age 18, parents retain FERPA rights at the high school, including access to records a college sends there.

Directory information has separate notice rules

Virginia Code §22.1-287.1 requires notice of the types designated as directory information, the right to refuse that designation, and the period for a written response. It adds protections for a student’s address, telephone number, and email address. Release under Virginia FOIA requires affirmative written consent. For those three contact fields, disclosure through FERPA’s directory-information exception also requires consent unless a statutory exception applies, including certain educational or school-business disclosures to students or school-board employees when the family has not opted out. Other permitted FERPA disclosures are treated separately.

The enrollment page’s linked FERPA notice carries a 2025–2026 title. Ask your school for the current notice, designated categories, response deadline, and accepted submission method before relying on an older form.

Keep the request and the response together

For a privacy question, keep the notice, form, submission date, and school response together. State whether you need a media preference changed, a survey inspected, or an education record reviewed. That gives the school a specific request to route.

The federal complaint instructions explain eligibility, forms, and the usual 180-day filing window. They require an attempt to resolve a PPRA concern with the educational agency first; they encourage that step for FERPA complaints.

For related family questions, see faith and religious expression and home instruction and school options.