You should become familiar with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act laws. FERPA was enacted by the United States Department of Education to ensure students and parents the right to keep private their confidential and personal information. All schools that receive government funding (i.e., public elementary, middle and high schools) are federally mandated to follow FERPA regulations and to distribute information only to educational personnel. Becoming familiar with this law will help you understand a school counselor’s inability to give you information about a particular student and his or her family. The counselor’s inability to give you information is not a sign of unwillingness to partner with you; rather, their hands are tied by the FERPA laws and regulations. School counselors or administrators will listen to your concerns and act on appropriate information, but they cannot exchange information. So, readily share your concerns with school administrators because they are just as interested in youth as you are.

One of the most important things to realize is that realistically you can focus on building lasting relationships within only one or two school districts. Many youth ministries have students from several different school districts. It would be extremely difficult to follow all of these suggestions within multiple districts, so know your limits and focus on the one or two districts where you have the greatest opportunities.

When working with the school, you need to be patient and continually keep your focus on the best interest of the child. Many people in the school won’t have a clue what you do. Don’t take it personally and remember that it will take time to develop a relationship of significance within the school. The relationship, however, is worth the investment of your time because the school system has so many resources that can benefit your students. If all youth directors seek to build collaborative relationships with a school system, it will help us to be more effective shepherds as we care for our students. The Parable of the Talents, Jesus shares with His followers in Matthew 25:23: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!”  If we are faithful in our shepherding, we will follow God’s will and use our talents to enhance the kingdom of God through the collaborative resources of church and school.