BILL WOULD HELP OPEN UP RECORDS

Teachers in North Dakota aren't told if one of their students is a killer.

Or a rapist. Or who's stolen a gun.

They are told who was caught drinking a beer or smoking a cigarette, but
don't know if a juvenile has a history of assaulting authority figures.

Under state law, authorities cannot share juvenile records or files with
school officials. An exception is made for certain alcohol-or drug-related
offenses, but no other crimes, according to Larry Klundt, executive
director of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders. And a federal
law disallows schools from sharing records with law enforcement.

A bill introduced Monday in the state House of Representatives would change
that. It would allow schools and law enforcement officials to better
communicate, by legalizing the sharing of confidential records. The sharing
would be between schools, law-enforcement agencies and juvenile court
officials, and would be at the discretion of the courts. The result,
proponents say, would be safer schools.

"Teachers are true professionals and should definitely be included in the
loop," said Sen. Linda Christenson, D-Grand Forks. Christenson is an
English teacher at Red River High School in Grand Forks. "I'm very adamant
about privacy, but when it gets to the point where students are in danger,
some sharing of information is necessary. The children should be the bottom
line."

The bill would create two new avenues along which information could be
shared. The first is from law enforcement to schools. If the bill is
enacted, law enforcement records and juvenile court records could be viewed
by school officials where the student is enrolled or wishes to enroll.

The second avenue is from schools to law enforcement. As it stands, a
federal law called FERPA -- the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
- -- generally makes all school records about students confidential.

An exception is made for school law enforcement units, however. Those
units, made up of school officials appointed by the district school board,
could record incidents and share that information with law enforcement
personnel.

No law enforcement units exist, however, because, according to the state's
open-records law, they'd have to release any recorded information to anyone
requesting it, which would run contrary to the protection of juveniles. The
bill before the House would place restrictions on the release of those records.

The bill says schools, law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts can
share records, but only between each other and the student's parent or
legal guardian.

Opening another line of communication between schools and law agencies
shouldn't create any privacy violations, a Mandan High School counselor said.

"We're ethically bound to keep any information we see confidential," Vicki
Roehl said. "The confidentiality of the student is of the utmost
importance. It's true that anytime there's another chain of information
open that (leaks) could happen, but that would be very rare."

Roehl said the sharing of information on juveniles hasn't come up much in
the past, and she doesn't see much need for it in the future.

"We might use it very occasionally, if we had any reason to suspect or knew
that a student might have that kind of record," Roehl said. "I think (the
school shooting at) Columbine really started a lot of talking on this issue."

That appears to be true, according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Director Jerald Kemmet.

"This came about through a series of training sessions on legal issues for
schools," Kemmet said. "This issue came up time and time again from schools
and law enforcement officials. It's been a big issue for (them) for the
last couple years."

Kemmet said this bill would improve relations between schools and law
enforcement, the goal being a better situation for students.

"We're only going to share information that's vital to the safety of the
children," Kemmet said. "This bill would allow that information on the record."