Schools forced to divert staff amid historic flood of records requests

 Washington Post -   School districts across the nation are facing a mounting pile of increasingly complex records requests from parents, community members or attorneys representing education advocacy groups — all of whom say they want greater transparency about how local children are educated. The requests are expansive, with filers seeking hundreds of thousands of pages of school emails, lesson plans and other internal documents, all of which must be carefully reviewed for student and employee personal information in compliance with federal privacy laws. School leaders warn that resources are being diverted away from students’ academic needs at the exact instant America is facing dropping test scores, a teen mental health crisis and a teacher shortage.