Virginia Tech Report Released
A report created by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice pertaining to the Virginia Tech Tragedy was recently released on June 13, 2007.
Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy
http://www.evergreen.edu/library/govdocs/pdf/dhhs/vatech-report.pdf
http://www.hhs.gov/vtreport.html
The report finds that educators, mental-health officials, and law-enforcement officers often do not share information about troubled students because they are confused by what they can disclose under complex and overlapping privacy laws. The report calls on the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to issue guidelines clarifying how colleges, police departments, and social-service agencies can share information legally under current federal laws governing student records. The federal agencies should study whether the laws should be changed to balance students' privacy with safety concerns, the report said. State officials also should review state limits on the exchange of information to see if they need to be better explained or altered.