As a parent with shared (50/50) physical and legal custody, do I have a legal right to my kids’ school information? For “official” school system purposes, my EX and I each have one of the two kids listed at each house. We live in same district (WCPSS) and kids go to district-wide magnet schools for which they are eligible from either address. I have had a horribly difficult time trying to get schools to do the “robo”-calls to both parents. Last year, I was not allowed to register for SPAN for one of my sons because my address was different than his “official” address. I had to badger my EX until he got an account and then use his log-in. Now I am having problem again with Home Base. This certainly does not encourage parental involvement. And unless there is a court order preventing it, I think both parents get access. What is the law in this case? Any suggestions about how to fix this without angering school officials (if possible)?
Yes, you should both have access to this information. The best way to get the attention of the school is to present them with a copy of a court order or separation agreement detailing your legal custody rights and that both parties have access to this information. If you do not have one, you can enter into a consent order detailing the current situation and have a judge execute it without having to have a hearing. You can also obligate each party to provide copies or notice of information upon receipt to the other party so that each parent will be fully informed regardless of where the information is sent. If one party fails to provide the information, he/she can be held in contempt.