Legal Question in Education Law in Massachusetts

Re: Release of Health Information

Okay, assuming you attend public school in Massachusetts (or any state for that matter) and the U.S. Department of Educastion is requesting the information for a legitamate reason or the school is providing it for a reason related to particpation in a U.S. DOE sponsored program, then if the school has the information they can provide it. There are privacy issues under a law called FERPA (sometimes referred to as the Buckley Amendment) which requires your permission (or your parents permission most likley if you are under 18 and not in college) to release your records (and even though you described these as "health records" based on what you described this would fall under FERPA). However, two of the main exceptions to the permission requirement are that school officials can release information to other school officials and to certain government agencies (including the DOE) without your permission.

You do have a right to know for what purpose the information is being released and when and to who it is released.

Good for you for questioning it; your privacy rights are important and you should never take them for granted.