Annual Notifications and Information
- Right-to-Know
- Title IX
- FERPA
- Special Education Services
- Non-Discrimination Statement
- Equal Opportunity Employer
- Acceptable Use Policy
- Educational Resources Privacy Policies
- Asbestos/Pest Control
Right-to-Know
Right-to-Know Information
The Board recognizes the importance of public records as the record of the district’s actions and the repository of information about the district. The public has the right under law (Right-to-Know Law) to inspect, to access and to procure copies of public records, with certain exceptions, subject to the law, Board policy and administrative regulations.
Right-to-Know requests will only be fulfilled if submitted by a person that is a legal resident of the United States. Anonymous requests will not be fulfilled.
Right-to-Know Procedure
1. Print the Right-to-Know Request Form.
2. Complete the form and submit to the Open Records Officer for Camp Hill School District.
Public Records Officer for CHSD: Mrs. Kerry Martin, Director of Business and Operations
Agency Head: Mr. Daniel D. Serfass, Superintendent
Solicitor: Mr. Gareth D. Pahowka, Esq., Stock and Leader, Attorneys at Law
Mailing Address: Camp Hill School District, Attn: Public Records Officer, 418 South 24th Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011
Email Address: openrecordsofficer@camphillsd.k12.pa.us
Please reference CHSD Policy No. 801 - Public Records for more information. For additional information, visit the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.
Fees for Public Record Requests Disclosure/Production of Certain Records Exempted Records
Title IX
Title IX Information
The Camp Hill School District will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, creed, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, marital status, pregnancy, national origin, or disability in accordance with state and federal laws governing educational and vocational programs and in its recruitment and employment practices. Inquiries or complaints concerning the application of Title IX and the implementing regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator/Compliance Officer.
For more information on Title IX, please visit the U.S. Department of Education.
Title IX Coordinator
In compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972, the CHSD has a designated Title IX Coordinator. The CHSD’s Title IX Coordinator should be contacted regarding any inquiries as to the application of Title IX or filing a harassment complaint. Responsibilities of the Title IX Coordinator are included in the Title IX Coordinator Job Description.
Title IX Coordinator/Compliance Officer: Mr. Daniel D. Serfass, Superintendent
Mailing Address: Camp Hill School District, Attn: Title IX Coordinator, 418 South 24th Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011
Email Address: dserfass@camphillsd.k12.pa.us
Submitting a Complaint
In addition to contacting the Title IX Coordinator, all students and parents/guardians may report allegations of harassment to the applicable building principal or administrator. Additionally, all CHSD staff, being mandated reporters, may field a complaint at any time, and submit to their supervisor. Reporting by staff to any required child abuse agency or law enforcement agency, as directed by state law, is to be done in addition to reporting complaints to building and supervisory staff.
Please reference CHSD Board Policy 103 - Discrimination/Title IX Sexual Harassment Affecting Students and CHSD Board Policy 104 - Discrimination/Title IX Sexual Harassment Affecting Staff for more information.
Training of CHSD's Title IX Coordinator included the following training presentation materials from Stock and Leader, Attorneys at Law, effective August 2020.
FERPA
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 Annual Notification
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Pennsylvania law affords parents/guardians and students 18 years of age and older (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student’s education records. These rights are:
- The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 30 days of the Local Education Agency's (LEA) receipt of a written request for access.
Parents or eligible students making such requests should submit to the appropriate LEA official a written request that identifies the record(s) s/he wishes to inspect. The LEA official will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected. If, upon inspection, a parent or eligible student requests copies of such records, a fee may be charged.
- The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent/guardian or eligible student believes is inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA. Parents/guardians or eligible students who wish to ask the LEA to amend a record should write the appropriate LEA official, clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the LEA decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, the LEA will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and advise them of their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing.
- The right to consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s education records, except to the extent that FERPA and State law authorizes disclosure without consent. Disclosure of personally identifiable information can be made without consent to the following:
a. School officials, including teachers, with a legitimate need to review an educational record in order to fulfill their professional responsibilities. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an educational record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. The LEA maintains a list of these school officials.
b. Officials of another school or school system in which a student seeks or intends to enroll, or is already enrolled if the disclosure is for purposes of the student’s enrollment or transfer. - The criteria for determining who constitutes a school official and what constitutes a legitimate educational interest if the district discloses certain materials without prior consent.
- The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the LEA to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are: Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202-8520.
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The right to refuse to permit the designation of any or all of the categories of directory information. The LEA is permitted by law to disclose directory information without written consent of the parent or eligible student. The parent or eligible student has the right to refuse to permit the designation of any or all of the categories of directory information if a written refusal is forwarded to the LEA by the start of the current school term. Directory information which may be released may include the student’s name, address, phone contact, date and place of birth; major field of study; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; dates of attendance; degrees and awards received; the most recent and previous education agency or institution attended by the student; and other similar information.
- The right to request that information not be provided to military recruiting officers and/or representative of postsecondary institutions without prior written parental consent.
Please reference CHSD Board Policy 216 - Student Records for more information. For additional information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education.
Special Education Services
Notice of Special Education Services and Programs (Child Find)
Each school district, along with other public agencies in the Commonwealth, must establish and implement procedures to identify, locate and evaluate all children who need special education programs and services because of the child’s disability. This notice is to help find these children, to offer assistance to parents, and to describe the parents’ rights with regard to confidentiality of information that will be obtained during the process.
The content of this notice has been written in English. If a person does not understand any of this notice, he or she should contact the school district (see Special Education Department) and request an explanation.
- Identification Activity
- Educational Records/Confidentiality
- Early Intervention Identification
- Services for Protected Handicapped Students
Identification Activity
Child find refers to activities undertaken by public education agencies to identify, locate, and evaluate children residing in the State, including children attending private schools, who are suspected of having disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disability, and determine the child's need for special education and related services. The purpose is to locate these children so that a free appropriate public education (FAPE) can be made available. The types of disabilities that, if found, may cause a child to need services are: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment due to chronic or acute health problems, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury and visual impairment including blindness. In the case of a child that is of preschool age, developmental delay.
Each school district is required to annually provide notice describing the identification activities and the procedures followed to ensure confidentiality of personally identifiable information. This notice is intended to meet this requirement.
Identification activities are performed to find a child who is suspected as having a disability that would interfere with his or her learning unless special education programs and services are made available. These activities are sometimes called screening activities. The activities include: review of group data, conducting hearing and vision screening, assessment of student's academic functioning, observation of the student displaying difficulty in behavior, and determining the student's response to attempted remediation. Input from parents is also an information source for identification. After a child is identified as a suspected child with a disability, he or she is evaluated, but is not evaluated before parents give written permission for their child to be evaluated. Regardless of screening activities, parents who think their child is a child with a disability may request in writing at any time, that an evaluation be conducted to determine if the child is eligible to receive special education services. Parents also have the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation. The school district must provide to parents, on request, information about where an independent educational evaluation may be obtained. Under certain circumstances, such an independent educational evaluation may be obtained at public expense. Written requests should be sent to the school district/charter school Special Education Contact Person, as listed in this notice.
Educational Records/Confidentiality
All records that are directly related to an individual child are called educational records and are maintained by the local school district. Information contained in these records such as the child’s name, the name of the child’s parents or other family member, the address of the child or their family, a personal identifier such as social security number or a list of characteristics or information that would make the child’s identity easily traceable is called personally identifiable information.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974
Each school district, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 and other applicable federal and state laws, protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable information regarding students that are identified as children with disabilities and eligible for special education services and protected handicapped students. The school district protects the personally identifiable information by one school official being responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of the records; training being provided to all persons using the information, and maintaining for public inspection a current list of employees’ names and positions who may have access to the information. The school district will inform you when this information is no longer needed to provide educational services to your child and will destroy the information at the request of the parent, except general information such as your child's name, address, phone number, grades, attendance record, classes attended, and grade level completed may be maintained without time limitation.
As the parent of the child you have a number of rights regarding the confidentiality of your child's records; for example, the right to inspect and review any education records related to your child that are collected, maintained, or used by the school district. The school district will comply with a request for you to review the records without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding planning for your child's special education program (called an IEP meeting), before a hearing should you and your school district disagree about how to educate your child who needs special education, and in no case, take more than 45 days to furnish you the opportunity to inspect and review your child's records.
You have the right to an explanation and interpretation of the records; to be provided copies of the records if failure to provide the copies would effectively prevent you from exercising your right to inspect and review the records and; the right to have a representative inspect and review the records.
Upon your request, the school district will provide you a list of the types and locations of education records collected, maintained, or used by the agency. Additionally, the school district may charge a fee for copies of records made in response to your request for copies, except it will not charge a fee if doing so will prevent you from inspecting and reviewing your child's records. The district will not charge a fee to search or retrieve information.
You have the right to request the amendment of your child's education records that you believe are inaccurate or misleading, or violates the privacy or other rights of your child. The school district will decide whether to amend the records within a reasonable time after receiving your request. If the school district refuses to amend the records you will be notified of the refusal and your right to a hearing. You will be given at that time, additional information regarding the hearing procedures and, upon request, the district will provide you a records hearing to challenge information in your child's education files.
Parent consent is required before personally identifiable information contained in your child's education records is disclosed to anyone other than officials of the school district collecting or using the information for purposes of identification of your child, locating your child and evaluating your child or for any other purpose of making available a free appropriate public education to your child. A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility. Additionally, the school district, upon request, discloses records without consent to officials of another school district in which your child seeks or intends to enroll.
School districts may establish a policy for disclosure of some types of student information known as directory information. Directory information is not subject to access or disclosure rules under FERPA. Directory information is that portion of an educational record which would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. This information may include but is not limited to the student’s name and school activities, local and permanent address, family members’ names, addresses and telephone numbers, major fields of study, names of previous school attended and enrollment status. Parents may refuse to allow the school district to designate any or all of their child’s record as directory information. Parents should contact their local school district if they do not want directory information released about the child.
When a child reaches age 18, the rights of the parent with regard to confidentiality of personally identifiable information is transferred to the student.
A parent may file a written complaint alleging that the rights described in this notice were not provided to the following:
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Bureau of Special Education
Division of Compliance
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333
The Department of Education will investigate the matter, issue a report of findings and necessary corrective action within 60 days. The Department will take necessary action to ensure compliance is achieved.
Complaints alleging failures of the school district with regard to confidentiality of personally identifiable information may also be filed with:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-4605
If you wish to learn more, have questions, or believe your child may need to be identified, please contact:
Autumn Reely, Director of Special Education/Student Services
Camp Hill School District
418 South 24th Street
Camp Hill, PA 17011
717-901-2400 ext. 2405
Early Intervention Identification
In Pennsylvania, a child between 3 years of age and the school district’ s age to begin school who has a developmental delay or one or more of the physical or mental conditions as listed on page 1, is identified as an “eligible young child.” The parents of these children have the same rights described previously in this document. The Watch Me Grow brochure that is linked below provides additional information.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education is responsible for providing programs and services to eligible young children under Act 212 of 1990, the Early Intervention Services System Act. Screening for preschool children is available from the Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU). To schedule an appointment for screening, or for additional information, please call Eric Bostick, CAIU Preschool Program Supervisor, at 717-732-8400 ext. 8619.
Services for Protected Handicapped Students
Students who are not eligible to receive special education programs and services may qualify as protected handicapped students and therefore be protected by other federal and state laws intended to prevent discrimination. The school district must ensure that protected handicapped students have equal opportunity to participate in the school program and extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate for each individual student. In compliance with state and federal law, the school district will provide to each protected handicapped student without discrimination or cost to the student or family, those related aids, services or accommodations which are needed to provide equal opportunity to participate in and obtain the benefits of the school program and extracurricular activities to the maximum extent appropriate to the student’s abilities. In order to qualify as a protected handicapped student, the child must be of school age with a physical or mental disability which substantially limits or prohibits participation in or access to an aspect of the school program.
These services and protections for “protected handicapped students” may be distinct from those applicable to exceptional or thought-to-be exceptional students. The school district or the parent may initiate an evaluation if they believe a student is a protected handicapped student. For further information on the evaluation procedures and provision of services to protected handicapped students, parents should contact CHSD's Special Education Office.
Non-Discrimination Statement
The Camp Hill School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, creed, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, marital status, pregnancy, national origin, or disability in accordance with state and federal laws governing educational and vocational programs and in its recruitment and employment practices.
Inquiries or complaints concerning the application of Title VII, Title IX, Section 504, the ADA, and the implementing regulations may be referred to Mrs. Lauren Russell, Director of Human Resources, by email at lrussell@camphillsd.k12.pa.us, or by telephone at 717-901-2400.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Camp Hill School District is an equal rights and opportunity public education school district and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, religion, marital status, or genetic information in its activities, educational and vocational programs (providing equal access to Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups) or employment practices as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as amended, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act of 1955 as amended, and the Genetic Information Act of 2008.
For information regarding civil rights or grievance procedures, contact Mrs. Lauren Russell, Director of Human Resources,
Acceptable Use Policy
Camp Hill School District's Acceptable Use Policy outlines the acceptable use of all district-managed technology including our hardware devices (computers, SMARTboards, etc.), software (instructional applications, websites, etc.), and the Internet. All students, staff, and families who utilize Camp Hill School District technology must comply with the rules contained in the District's Acceptable Use Policy.
The Board supports use of the Internet and other computer networks in the district’s instructional and operational programs and shall provide access to technology to be used by students and staff for educational-related purposes and for performance of school district job duties.
For educational purposes, the use of network facilities shall be consistent with the curriculum adopted by the school district, as well as the varied instructional needs, learning styles, abilities, and developmental levels of students. The network may not be used for commercial or business purposes (offering of goods or services).
Access to the school district’s Computer Information Systems (CIS) through school resources is a privilege, not a right. These, as well as the user accounts and information, are the property of the school district, which reserves the right to deny access to prevent further unauthorized, inappropriate or illegal activity, and may revoke those privileges and/or administer appropriate disciplinary action. The district will cooperate to the extent legally required with the internet service provider, local, state and federal officials in any investigation concerning or related to the misuse of the CIS.
It is often necessary to access user accounts in order to perform routine maintenance and security tasks; system administrators have the right to access, by interception, the stored communication of user accounts for any reason in order to uphold this policy and to maintain the system. Users have no privacy expectation in the contents of their personal files or any of their uses of the district’s CIS. The district reserves the right to monitor, track, log and access CIS use and to monitor and allocate fileserver space.
The district reserves the right to restrict access to any Internet sites or functions it deems inappropriate through established Board policy, or the use of software and/or online server blocking. Specifically, the district operates and enforces a technology protection measure(s) that blocks or filters access to inappropriate matter by minors on its computers used and accessible to adults and students. The technology protection measure shall be enforced during use of computers with Internet access.
The district shall make every effort to ensure that this resource is used responsibly by students and staff. Students and staff are expected to respect all applicable laws, as well as observe and respect district rules.
Administrators, teachers and staff have a professional responsibility to work together to help students develop the intellectual skills necessary to discriminate among information sources, to identify information appropriate to their age and developmental levels, and to evaluate and use the information to meet their educational goals. The building administrator shall have the authority to determine what is inappropriate use.
Please reference CHSD Board Policy 815 - Technology/Internet Use for more information.
Educational Resources Privacy Policies
Camp Hill School District utilizes various education-focused software applications and websites. The linked list of educational resources has been approved for use during the school year. Each resource includes a link to the privacy policy which describes how that site collects and/or uses student data. We encourage you to visit each website and review the privacy policy for how student data is used.
Each of the websites and applications require registration prior to use. If your child is under 13 years of age, the registration process requires parental consent. The use of these applications and the collection of personal information from students will be for the use and benefit of the school and not for commercial purposes. For these reasons, the District is permitted and will be providing the website consent on behalf of the parents without the need for individual parent consent for each website application, unless you elect to opt out of this common consent. The law permits schools to consent to the collection of personal information on behalf of the parents, thereby eliminating the need for individual parental consent given directly to the application operator. The link below will allow you to see the list of apps and websites that your consent would allow access to.
Parents/guardians are asked to review the information on the list of resources and consent to allowing their child to use each of the websites and applications, and that you agree to the privacy policy as enumerated on each website. Consent will be attained during the annual contact verification process prior to the start of each school year.
The full list of resources is available for review here: Camp Hill School District K-12 Educational Apps and Websites
Asbestos/Pest Control
Asbestos Notification
It is the intention of the Camp Hill School District to comply with all Federal and State regulations controlling asbestos. We wish to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that all students and employees are able to learn and work in a healthy and safe environment. In compliance with Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) regulations, we are required to inform all parents, teachers and other employees of Camp Hill School District of our Asbestos Inspection Report and Management Plan.
Location of asbestos materials, District Management Plans, 6-month surveillance results and 3-year Inspection Reports are available for viewing in the District Administration Building. In order to review these documents during normal business hours, please contact the Mr. Todd Stroup, Director of Buildings and Grounds, by email at tstroup@camphillsd.k12.pa.us, or by phone at 717-901-2400.
Pest Control Notification and Procedure
The Camp Hill School District uses an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach for managing insects, rodents, and weeds. Our goal is to prevent every student from pesticide exposure by using an IPM approach to pest management. Our IPM approach focuses on making the school building and grounds an unfavorable habitat for these pests by removing food and water sources and eliminating their hiding and breeding places. We accomplish this through routine cleaning and maintenance. We routinely monitor the school building and grounds to detect any pests that are present. The pest monitoring team consists of our building maintenance, office, and teaching staff and includes our students. Pest sightings are reported to our IPM coordinator who evaluates the “pest problem” and determines the appropriate pest management techniques to address the problem. The techniques can include increased sanitation, modifying storage practices, sealing entry points, physically removing the pest, etc.
From time to time, it may be necessary to use chemicals to manage a pest problem. Chemicals will only be used when necessary, and will not be routinely applied. When chemicals are used, the school will try to use the least toxic product possible. Applications will be made only when authorized persons do not have access to the area(s) being treated. Notices will be posted in these areas 72 hours prior to the application and for two days following the application.
Parents or guardians of students enrolled in the school may request prior notification of specific pesticide applications made at the school. To receive notification, you must be placed on the school’s notification registry. If you would like to be placed on this registry, please notify the district in writing. Please include your e-mail address if you would like to be notified electronically. If a chemical application must be made to control an emergency pest problem, notice will be provided by telephone to any parent or guardian who has requested such notification in writing. Exemptions to this notification include disinfectants and anti-microbial products; self-containerized baits placed in areas not accessible to students, and gel type baits placed in cracks, crevices or voids. Each year the district will prepare a new notification registry. If you have any questions, please contact the Mr. Todd Stroup, Director of Buildings and Grounds, by email at tstroup@camphillsd.k12.pa.us, or by phone at 717-901-2400.