Vogel Law Firm PLLC

Jonathan is an outstanding attorney who represents NHCS. He is extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful in his approach to legal issues. He communicates well and truly cares about his clients. He represents the highest standards of legal counsel as he is also a former Deputy General Counsel of the US Dept of Education and a former civil rights attorney with the US Dept of Justice. He is the BEST education attorney in NC hands down.

While serving as the New Hanover County School board attorney, part of Vogel's responsibility is to review public records requests. This includes reviewing emails and documents, and deciding whether or not to withhold or redact materials in accordance to privacy laws. On Sept 5th, 2023, during the regular school board meeting, Mr. Vogel stated that he led his firm's efforts in supporting NHCS in reviewing and complying with PRRs. Two days later, on Sept 7, 2023, emails between parents and school staff pertaining to their children was released onto the public portal. I emailed the district as soon as I saw these emails on the portal, as there was personally identifiable information (PII) about the students included in the emails. The only redacted information was the child's name, but in one case, information about the child's class placement, grades, test score, teacher name, grade, school, and parent name/contact info remained visible for the public. I sent 4 emails over 10 days to notify the district that this information was public and that I was concerned this might be FERPA violation. It was not until my 4th email, when I copied the Dept of Education, that the information was removed from the public portal. It had remained on the portal for at least 11 days. I find it very concerning that under Vogel's contract with NHCS, this PII was released, and I find it even more concerning that after I notified the district, that it took them 1 1/2 weeks to remove it. I also am very concerned that I never received a response to my emails or my concerns. I would not recommend Vogel to represent any school district. This FERPA concern should have been taken seriously and once notified, the documents should have been removed from public view immediately, OR the district should have notified me that they were required to release this information. Mr. Vogel stated that he led his firm's efforts in supporting PRRs for NHCS and I find it very concerning that this information was released and when I asked for clarity on FERPA and privacy laws, I did not get a response. edit to respond: I did not say that there WAS a FERPA violation. I said I was CONCERNED that there may be a FERPA violation and that I never got a response about my concern. I did not make any false comments. I am concerned these emails were released, regardless of if there was a FERPA violation or not, as I do not feel the public should have been given access to any student's PII. This response on 10/4/23 is also the FIRST response I have gotten from anyone from NHCS or the Vogel law firm since my first email on Sept 8, 2023. If you can tell me exactly what I typed above that is false, I will remove it. But I am unaware of any false comment that I made.