I graduated high school as a foreign student in California…

Thanks so much for your patience.

Generally, FERPA allows you to get transcripts from the school. Only if you owe a balance can the school refuse to release your educational records.

What this means is that you should probably take some action against the school.

You may want to consider just writing a formal demand letter. There’s a site that I’ve used in the past where you can find templates for various legal issues, including a demand letter. You can click the link below for more info.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/674752957/demand-letter?ref=listings_manager_grid. Lawyers use letters like these often to enforce their client’s rights. It only costs $11 and it is about 90% cheaper than hiring an attorney to do it.

In addition, you should strongly consider a FERPA complaint to the US department of education. The local school district also can oversee FERPA complaints, so consider a complaint there, too. How else can I help you today?

I see. So if this is the case, then you may have to bring suit against them.

Section 51225.3 of the state's education code lays out the graduation requirements/

If you have information along with this to show that you graduated, then you may need to sue them for failing to adhere to the code.

Filing a lawsuit is relatively simple, but there are some specific steps you must follow. Generally, you will want to begin with drafting up your complaint on 28-line pleading paper. (https://www.etsy.com/listing/661142488/pleading-paper?ref=related-1&frs=1)

Start with a brief introduction and then a new heading with a new paragraph where you lay out the facts. Once you lay out the facts, create a new heading that provides your legal analysis. For example, you could say that they breached their requirement to abide by the Education Code. It doesn't have to be very long, but something that explains what your legal authority is to bring the case. Afterward, you will want to have your “Prayer for Relief” as a separate heading and then you put in what you want (e.g. amount of money you want). Make three copies of this.

The court may have specific cover sheets and require a filing fee, so check on that as well, so be sure to check on that.

When you’re done, file the documents. You need to have a third party send a copy of the filed document to the defendant.

Finally, there’s the discovery process where you can ask the other party for documents and even take statements from witnesses (these are called depositions). If you can’t reach agreement, then you go to trial.

So in your case, you may need to hire a lawyer who can research what the law was back in the early 2000s. The graduation requirements likely haven't changed, but they may have changed slightly. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head; however, calling the CA Dept. of Education would make sense in this case. They have oversight over these schools and something is definitely off here and they may need to step in.

Sure thing. I wouldn't mention getting legal advice yet. I used to represent public schools in California, and they lawyer up VERY quickly. So if you handle this at the informal level, it'll get done much faster. Any other questions for me about this?

Sure thing.

That's a good question. The Dept. of Education will likely make an exception in this case if so many people were wrongfully advised whether you would get a degree. The other thing they could do is give you a pathway to finish the degree, usually by taking some test or passing some standardized set of questions. The CDE would have to tell you for sure, but this isn't an unheard of situation.