Kindergarten Registration is OPEN!

Kindergarten registration is OPEN! - All children who will be 5 years of age on or before September 1, 2024 and reside in Lancaster City or Lancaster Township are eligible to enroll in kindergarten for the 2024-2025 school year. Register now for guaranteed placement in your neighborhood school! APPLY NOW!
Together we can

Home / Learn / Your Rights as a Parent/Guardian

LEARN

You have important rights regarding your child’s education.

Parents/guardians have the following rights regarding the school records of your children:

  • The right to inspect and review the school records of your child. If this information is not currently available for you to review in ParentVue, please complete this form to request it.
  • The right to challenge the validity of anything in the records and to a hearing if the school refuses to change the records.
  • The right to control the release of information to third parties (with certain exceptions, such as other schools where your child enrolls).
  • The right to obtain a copy of any records being released to any third party.
  • The right to review the school district’s policy on the collection, maintenance and release of student records. Copies of the policy are available in all school offices.
  • The right to refuse release of “directory information” regarding your child.

You may call your school counselor for more information on your “right to know.”

Additional rights of parents/guardians include:

Release of directory information

Directory information refers to the district’s record of each student’s name, address, telephone number, sex, date of birth and dates of enrollment.

The School District of Lancaster’s policy is to release directory information only when the superintendent, or someone acting with his/her permission, feels it to be in the best interest of the student involved. Directory information will not be released for any commercial purposes. At certain times, lists of directory information may be released by subcategories (for example: all middle school boys, all minority students, students who left school before graduating). This will be done only when it appears to be in the best interest of the students (for example: potential scholarships, back-to-school efforts by community groups).

Any parent or guardian who prefers that their child’s name not be included on any such lists may file a written request with the school.

Information about the qualifications of your child’s teachers

Under amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, parents and legal guardians have the right to request and receive timely information on the professional qualifications of their children’s teachers.

At a minimum, schools must report:

  • Whether the teacher has met state qualifying and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subjects areas in which a teacher is teaching.
  • Whether a teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status.
  • The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, including the field of discipline of the certification or degree; and
  • Notice of services provided by paraprofessionals and their qualifications.

This notification must take place at the start of each school year. In addition to this information, each Title 1 School must provide individual parents with information on their child’s level of achievement on state academic assessments required by law.

Withhold your child from school communications

As part of a comprehensive communications program, the School District of Lancaster and its affiliate schools regularly use photos, videos, audio recordings and examples of student work to highlight the talents and accomplishments of our students, the professionalism of our staff and the quality of an SDoL education. The district reserves the right to use photos, videos, audio recordings and/or student work in publications or other media material produced, used or contracted by SDoL, including but not limited to: brochures, newsletters, websites, social media, etc.

To ensure the privacy of individuals and children, parents or legal guardians may choose to have their child(ren) withheld from the district communications program by providing written notice to their child(ren)’s school(s). The written notice should be provided to the building principal.