What is a school official?

Generally, a school official is someone the institution has employed, contracted with, or has an official relationship with who would need to access pertinent educational data to perform his/her designated job functions. These individuals have a need to review/use student educational records for the purpose of performing assigned institutional research, educational or administrative functions. It is rarely a “blanket” access to all data about all students. 

Other than the subject of the data (the student) access to student information is based on a legitimate educational need-to-know in order to perform job duties. Members of the University whose designated responsibilities require access to student records for educational, administrative, or research functions may include faculty, administration, clerical and professional employees, and other people who manage student record information. If you need the information in order to perform your job duties you should have access to the information, otherwise you should not.