On August 28, 2021, a new Missouri law went into effect that prevents school districts in Missouri from prohibiting parents from audio recording Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings or Section 504 meetings.
Missouri House Bill HB432 was signed into law by Missouri governor Mike Parson on July 14, 2021.
The passage of the new law gives parents a more level playing field when it comes to IEP and 504 meetings.
Missouri Disability Empowerment posted an article on their website about the new law:
The new law includes the following provisions related to recordings:
- The recordings of the meetings by parents or legal guardians will be the property of the parent or legal guardian.
- School districts cannot require more than 24 hours notice that a parent or guardian intends to record an IEP or 504 meeting.
- Employees who report violations of the law regarding recordings cannot be subject to discharge, retaliation or any adverse employment action for making a report.
Fox’s current school board Policy KKB: AUDIO AND VISUAL RECORDING needs to be updated to comply with the new law. Other school districts in Missouri who use the Missouri School Board Association’s board Policies and Regulations will need to update Policy KKB as well after checking some of those other school district's websites.
Fox C-6’s school board Policy KKB was last revised on: 09/20/2016.
Below are some of the recommendations that school districts should begin thinking about as noted in a May 25, 2021 blog post written by Ed Counsel, LLC:
Ed Counsel LLC's article was written prior to the signing of the bill into law.
As noted in the article:
- Staff should be aware that parents have the ability to record IEP and Section 504 meetings, and no steps should be taken to discourage that recording, in order to maintain compliance with the law. This would include office staff who may field calls from parents regarding recording meetings, and staff members who will participate in IEP or Section 504 meetings.
- The new ability to record will likely change the landscape regarding due process complaints and child complaints, as parental recordings will likely be used as exhibits in those hearings.
- Because the recordings made by the parent will be the property of the parent, and the school’s recording will be a student education record, they will be able to publish the recording if they choose to—including on social media. Staff should understand the district’s expectations for their behavior as outlined in the district’s staff conduct policy, including communicating professionally with parents and patrons of the District.
- Given that these recordings will likely be used in dispute resolution processes, or could even spur such processes, it will be important for staff to be trained on and fully understand their roles in IEP and Section 504 meetings, as well as the process for those meetings.
- Preparation for an IEP or Section 504 meeting is always important, but it will become even more important in a meeting in which a parent plans to record, to help prevent missteps during the meeting that may later be brought to light in a complaint.
Here is some of the text from Fox C-6’s current version of Policy KKB - AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING:
Recording of Meetings
The Board of Education prohibits the use of audio, visual or other recording devices at meetings held pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as other meetings among district employees and between district employees and parents/guardians. Exceptions to this prohibition will be made only in accordance with Board policy and law. Requests for such exceptions must be made within a reasonable period of time prior to the scheduled meetings. This prohibition does not apply to conversations held within view of district security cameras.
Secretive Recording or Transmission
The district prohibits secretive recordings where persons involved do not consent to the recording and it is not otherwise obvious that recording equipment is present or being used, unless the superintendent or designee determines in rare circumstances that such recordings are necessary for educational or security reasons. The district prohibits the simultaneous electronic transmission of any conversation by any person to a third party without the consent of all involved in the conversation, even if the conversation is not recorded.
Below is a link to an article from Missouri Disability Empowerment (MoDE) regarding the passage of the new law.
The article notes that Missouri is a one-party consent state. I've noted this fact in previous articles on my blog.
The article on the MoDE website includes a must-read letter that was recently sent to the Moberly School District by the Missouri Attorney General’s. The letter from the AG was written in response to a parent who reached out to MoDE for help in their request to record a meeting. The parents were asked to sign a “Request to Record IEP/504 Meeting” form that limited or restricted the parent’s right to record meetings in which they were a participant.
I highly recommend reading the AG Letter Regarding Recording that’s noted in the link below. It references the new law and puts the district on notice.
In 2010, Fox C-6 admins and their attorneys were aware that Missouri was a one-party consent state.
In 2010, some Fox C-6 administrators secretly audio recorded a phone call with one of our allergists in an attempt to try and discredit another allergist. What was really odd, was that the phone call with the allergist that Fox was attempting to discredit was only documented with handwritten notes taken by Fox’s former Section 504 Coordinator, Dan Baker. The audio recording of the phone call was submitted as evidence by the district in our 2010 Due Process Hearing.
If audio recordings of both phone calls had been submitted as evidence, then there would have been an accurate account of what was discussed during both phone calls. Handwritten notes of a phone call should not be trusted as an accurate record of a phone call during a Due Process Hearing.
The new law will hopefully deter school district administrators, staff and attorneys from making false statements during Section 504 meetings like we experienced. It’s less likely that this sort of behavior will continue under the new law when everyone is aware that the meeting is being recorded.