Utah Court of Appeals · No. 20250825-CA
Sevier County School District v. Kummer
Granted Judicial review
- Forum
- Utah Court of Appeals
- Case number
- No. 20250825-CA
- Decided
- Aug 6, 2026
- Outcome
- Granted
- Underlying case
- Closed. Decided by the Utah Court of Appeals on August 6, 2026, reversing the Sixth District Court.
- Relief
- The order requiring a redacted copy was reversed. The district does not have to produce the video, and neither side was awarded fees.
- Requests at issue
- Surveillance video of a 45-minute sixth grade physical education class at South Sevier Middle School on November 21, 2022, requested separately by Shana Kummer and Jared Kummer, whose daughter appears in the footage
- Conduct at issue
- Two records requests for a school surveillance video, denied on the ground that a record covered by the federal student-privacy statute sits outside GRAMA
- Underlying claims
- Consolidated petitions for judicial review of two State Records Committee decisions under Utah Code 63G-2-404
What the court held
- The school district lost its main argument. It said Utah's public records law, GRAMA, does not reach records that the federal student privacy law, FERPA, covers. The court disagreed. A 2016 change to GRAMA says that FERPA governs how a school releases those records. In the same section, the legislature wrote that GRAMA does not apply at all to health records. It chose different words for school records.
- The district won on its second argument. FERPA gives a parent the right to "inspect and review" a child's school records. That means a parent can look at the record. It does not mean the school must provide a copy. The district let the Kummers watch the video at the school. The court held that this met FERPA. GRAMA points to FERPA on this question, so it met GRAMA as well.
- An earlier case, Bryner v. Canyons School District, came out the other way. There the court made a school hand over a redacted copy. The difference is in the facts. Nothing in that case shows the school offered the parent a chance to watch the video, so no one put this question to that court.
- A school may still choose to give a parent a redacted copy. FERPA does not forbid that. The holding is narrow: a school that has let a parent watch the record does not also have to provide a copy.
This case produced far more filings than most. Listed here are the ones that shaped the outcome. Every filing, including the ones not listed, is in the document library.
May 5, 2025Respondents
MotionMotion to set aside order on motion to vacate trial and ruling on petition for judicial review
PDF Other Judicial review matters
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Marini v. Utah State Records Committee
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Not legal advice. Deadlines in your case may differ. Talk to a lawyer.