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One thing that you might have observed if you follow several horn studios or horn teachers on Facebook or Instagram is the wildly different approaches to FERPA.
What is FERPA?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects privacy rights in educational situations. From the Department of Education website, “The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.” Further, “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.”
What this means for the current horn student and the horn professor
In the context of my own teaching, there are things that I can and cannot release. I would first highlight these two links below, which are what I would as of now reference at Arizona State:
Most schools have similar rules. I am allowed to release “Directory Information” on students, unless they have opted out, for which there is a process. Directory Information includes basic details such as names and E-mail addresses, the sort of information I would need if for example someone contacted me looking for performers for a playing gig or if I was putting members of a new chamber group in touch with each other.
What about photos of your college students?
So while we are allowed to release Directory Information, some information is not Directory Information, and that would certainly include photos of students — of the type that some studios and teachers regularly post on social media. Not to mention the posts with photos and descriptions well beyond basic Directory Information.
Where this is problematic falls under a broad category that relates to information “that would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the student and/or relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty.” Videos of a group might be OK, so long as the students involved are not easily identifiable, but certainly not the section photos and such seen so frequently.
In my own case, if I wanted to post photos of students on social media at this point, I would need a signed Modeling Release Form from every student, probably best done every semester to be safe. A couple of my colleagues I know do this in fact, although in my own case I am reluctant to even do the ask and I just do not post photos of current students. And I recently went back and made a point of deleting photos posted in past years that I had posted of students that were taken when the students were enrolled at ASU.
On the other hand, I know for example the marching band has all students sign a release for that reason, so that they can post photos and videos of them on social media and beyond. So, it can be done. Just depends on the rules as interpreted at your school.
But I’m only promoting the studio! And we need applicants!
Right, but also you potentially are breaking rules that you are supposed to be following at your school. There are ways to follow the rules, and those rules are there for good reasons. Really, there still is plenty you can post about — the success of former students, guest artists, your activities, etc.
What if you are a student posting photos of other students on social media?
If it is your personal Facebook or Insta, FERPA would not apply to you. But for a professor, to my mind, FERPA would prohibit you from posting current student photos, no matter the platform (unless you had the signed Modeling Release Forms mentioned previously). If they have graduated, you would be free to post after that time, but not photos from when they were your student.
What if you are not a college professor and you are posting photos from a horn event or of your non-academic studio?
FERPA concerns would not apply to you, although you might operate with caution still, not everyone wants every image plastered all over social media.
A quick side story. Some horn person (not a student), I took a photo of them at a horn event a few years ago at a sales table and posted it on the Horn Matters Facebook page. I honestly thought it to be an OK photo, but they thought differently and asked me to take it down (“terrible photo!”). Which I was happy to do but, again, operate with caution.
Be chill and adjust to the modern world
A final adjustment I would mention and suggest, I never send friend requests to current students and I never follow any current students on Instagram. I enjoy following a number of former students, and if a student sends me a friend request on FB fine, but I always give students space to be students rather than my social media friends. A degree of separation is a good thing.
Honestly, while you may be thinking Ericson is just getting old (and I am!), I think it is a very good practice to be cautious about FERPA in this modern time. Stick with sharing nothing more than what would be defined as Directory Information on current students, and do not post personally identifiable information (such as photos of current students) unless you have the signed releases. It makes the social media a bit less spicy for the horn studio, but really this is what we all should be doing.
(Slightly Updated)
