In many cases of parental conflict, the parent who acts as the educational guardian prevents the other parent from having access to the child’s school information and does not transmit what is communicated to him by school.
For its part, the school, shielding itself in the circumstance of having already provided the information to one parent, refuses, or makes it difficult to provide the same information to the other parent.
Now, first of all, it is important to realize that the education guardian is a simple interlocutor between the school and the family, knowing that the existence of a single point of contact naturally facilitates communication with families, mitigating the paperwork burden to which educational establishments are subject. In fact, it is supposed that the guardian – as a rule, the parent with the greatest availability or ability to follow the school path of the children – acts in line with the other parent (See art. 47, paragraph 3, of the Student Statute).
So, the parent acting as educational guardian is legally obliged to provide the information related to the minor’s school career to the other parent, even if, in case of separation, the parent does not have sole custody or in cases of joint custody.
If he/she fails to do so, the other parent may directly request information from the school, which, in turn, is obliged to provide it. In fact, the holders of the right to school information, in addition to the student himself, are their parents since they are responsible for directing and supervising the educational and school path of their children (see arts. 7, no. 1, al q) and 43º of the Student Statute). The school obligations of providing information to parents is fulfilled with the provision of the information to the guardian if he, in turn, transmits it to the other parent. If this is not the case, the school is not released from its obligation and must transmit the information requested by the one parent to the other parent. In fact, the Student Statute expressly provides for this possibility concerning the specific case of the evaluation record sheets, providing that they are also delivered, at his request, to the parent who does not live with the child.
In addition to the evaluation record sheets, parents can request access to other record elements filed at the school, such as the biographical record, the school notebook, and the student’s file.
The school cannot, thus, refuse to provide information to the parent that requests it on the grounds that it has already provided it to the other parent or educational guardian.