Authorities: Student privacy laws hinder efforts to stop school shootings

School officials might not be giving law enforcement the information needed to guard against a mass shooting, authorities said Thursday.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, restricts the dissemination of students' educational records, including disciplinary history or behavioral information.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison and other members of the Governor's Crime Commission's Special Committee on School Shootings, said there are exceptions to the law when there's an impending threat but that teachers and others are too afraid of running afoul of FERPA to share information.

"They feel like, if they say to me, 'Sheriff, we've got a kid that's made some comments that he wants to shoot the school up. He feels like everyone is against him,' they feel like they can't tell us. They can," said Harrison, co-chairman of the committee.

"They can't feel like they are going to lose their jobs to tell us something may happen in the school," he added. "They can't feel that fear, and I think that is what is happening."

But when is something considered an impending threat? Orange County Schools Superintendent Todd Wirt said officials need to agree on a definition.

"[There needs to be] a common understanding of FERPA and what can be shared and should be shared," Wirt said.

Close communication in his district between authorities and school staffers has been helpful, he said.

"[It begins] at the school level, with employees knowing exactly when they should share," he said.

School attorneys across the state plan to meet next week, and FERPA is expected to be on their agenda.