FERPA Complaint to U.S. DOE SPPO¶
Date Range: 2025-12-19 Emails in Thread: 4 Parties: Kevin Bass, U.S. Department of Education Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO)
Email 1: Complaint Submission¶
Date: December 19, 2025, 3:11 AM From: Kevin Bass kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com To: FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov Subject: FERPA Complaint — Denial/Delay of Access to Education Records — Kevin Bass v. TTUHSC
Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO),
Attached please find my completed FERPA Complaint Form regarding Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). My complaint concerns denial/effective prevention of timely inspection and review of my education records.
Attachments:
- FERPA Complaint Form (fillable PDF)
- Exhibits Packet Cover Sheet (Exhibits A–H)
- Attachment A — Narrative for Sections 4 and 5
- Exhibits A–H (email correspondence printed to PDF)
Please confirm receipt of this submission. Thank you.
Sincerely, Kevin Bass PhD MS
Email 2: Auto-Reply Confirmation¶
Date: December 19, 2025, 9:11 AM From: FERPA.Complaints FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov To: Kevin Bass Subject: Auto-Reply
The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO or Office), formerly known as the Family Policy Compliance Office, has received the email you submitted to the FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov inbox.
Section I: New Complaint Submission
This response serves as confirmation that the SPPO has received your complaint form submission regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Please note that this Office addresses complaints in the order they are received.
We will complete a preliminary review of your complaint to ensure it contains the required content and is ready for further processing. [...] Once your complaint is ready for processing, SPPO will review the information you provided, and consider all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements and the Department's interpretation of those requirements, in reaching a decision as to whether there are sufficient facts of a potential violation of FERPA that supports conducting an investigation.
[...] We ask that you wait until at least 90 days after the date of your submission before contacting SPPO requesting an update on the status of your complaint.
Email 3: Supplemental Information¶
Date: December 19, 2025, 1:20 PM From: Kevin Bass kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com To: FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov Subject: Re: FERPA Complaint — Denial/Delay of Access to Education Records — Kevin Bass v. TTUHSC
Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO),
I am writing to supplement my FERPA complaint submitted today regarding Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).
TTUHSC has now responded and offered in-person inspection on Mon Dec 29, Tue Dec 30, and Wed Dec 31, 2025 (9:00 AM–4:00 PM) with supervision and "no copying" restrictions. I will attend those sessions.
This is a helpful step, but it still does not provide a workable path to complete inspection and review. TTUHSC stated the responsive set is approximately 2,000 records. In the Dec 12 session, I reviewed approximately 20 records in one hour. At that demonstrated pace, completing inspection would require ~100 hours total; even assuming major efficiency gains, it is still 50+ hours. Three full days (about 21 hours) will not allow completion.
In addition, my request included the 34 C.F.R. § 99.32 record of disclosures and a basic inventory/manifest (or other navigable index) of the responsive set; these remain outstanding.
Attached: TTUHSC's Dec 19, 2025 email proposing the Dec 29–31 schedule (submitted as a supplemental exhibit).
Thank you, Kevin Bass PhD MS
Email 4: Auto-Reply (Supplement Received)¶
Date: December 19, 2025, 7:20 PM From: FERPA.Complaints FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov To: Kevin Bass Subject: Auto-Reply
The Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO or Office) has received the email you submitted to the FERPA.Complaints@ed.gov inbox.
[Standard auto-reply confirming receipt of additional information]
Summary¶
| Date/Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Dec 19, 3:11 AM | Kevin Bass files FERPA complaint with DOE SPPO regarding TTUHSC |
| Dec 19, 9:11 AM | SPPO auto-reply confirms receipt of complaint |
| Dec 19, 1:20 PM | Kevin Bass supplements complaint noting TTUHSC's Dec 29-31 offer but inadequate time for 2,000 records |
| Dec 19, 7:20 PM | SPPO auto-reply confirms receipt of supplement |
Significance
This represents an escalation to federal oversight. Kevin Bass filed a formal FERPA complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office alleging that TTUHSC has effectively denied timely access to his education records by:
- Offering only short sessions (1 hour) for a set of ~2,000 records
- Prohibiting any form of copying during review
- Not providing the § 99.32 disclosure log
- Not providing an index/manifest of responsive records
See also: Thread 34: TTUHSC Student Record, Thread 37: FERPA Request — Hearing Video