MANSFIELD, OHIO – Mansfield City Schools are currently infringing upon a father’s state and federal rights by denying him access to his three children’s educational information. Specifically, the district is in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974. Under federal law, a biological parent retains the right to inspect and review their children’s education records and participate in significant educational decision-making, unless a specific court order states otherwise. In this case, there is no such court order…
Since February 23, 2026, the father has been denied access to his children’s FinalForms account. The removal was documented and executed by Sherman Elementary secretary Vanessa Hindman, who altered the account without the father’s consent at the request of the mother. This action effectively removed his parental access to the children and as an emergency contact, blocking his access to critical information. When questioned, Ms. Hindman reportedly stated she acted solely at the wife’s request. Despite multiple phone calls to the school, all of which have been fielded by Hindman, the father still has no access to his children. Ms. Hindman claimed she did not know the father’s identity and refused to provide information, despite his existing legal status as a parent and the fact that she herself unlawfully edited his FinalForms account.
The FinalForms document that Hindman altered can be found screenshotted below. Hindman’s comment on file in regards to the wiping of the father are also shown and state “2-23 MC (Mother) is re-enrolling & couldn’t remove Father from contact said was told we had to do it”.
After discovering Hindman was behind the removal of his access, the father confronted her regarding the conversations they had held over the past several weeks. When faced with the fact that he knew who she was and what she did, she fell silent. The father demanded she reinstate his access, pointing out that she shouldn’t have removed it in the first place, but she again offered no explanation and remained silent.
AETOS Says: Just because someone is going through a divorce, you don’t get to just remove the children from the other parent completely. That’s against the law as clearly outlined above and is also a primary example of parental alienation.
THE FACTS
- The father is currently going through a divorce, the wife (mother) has temporary sole custody.
- The terms of the divorce clearly state that the father is to have unsupervised visits with his children.
- The father has no extenuating circumstances or court orders in regards to the children whatsoever that would bar him from having access like any normal parent would.
- There are no court orders, restraining orders or civil protection orders anywhere in effect that prohibit him from having educational access to his children.
- The school persists to not provide him any access to his children – which is a clear direct violation of the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act.
- The school and it’s Superintendent have been provided with the full extent of the divorce filing, it’s injunctions as well as screenshots showcasing the secretary removing the father from his children’s FinalForm’s at the mother’s request.
AN ESCALATING SITUATION: A formal complaint has now been lodged with the department of education. The school Superindendant has been notified. Multiple requests for the Principle to return his calls have not yet been returned.
THE FERPA VIOLATION
A FERPA violation regarding parent access occurs when an educational institution receiving federal funds denies a parent the right to inspect, review, or obtain copies of their child’s education. This includes withholding records, maintaining secret files, or ignoring requests for information from both custodial and non-custodial parents.
- Key aspects of this FERPA violation include:
- Denial of Access: Refusing to allow the father to view records like report cards, health records, or behavioral reports.
- Non-Custodial Parent Exclusion: Denying access to a non-custodial parent, unless a court order exists to the contrary – which in this case there isn’t one.
- Violation of Privacy Policies: Unlawful removal of FinalForms of the father’s account without a court order removing him is a direct violation of FERPA as it was done improperly.
FUN FACT: Recent reports show that as much as 21% of the Mansfield City School’s operating budget is comprised of federal funding. These funds can be withheld if the school continues to refuse the parent access to their children – as well as a host of other legal measures being taken against the school. The father has expressed his primary focal point of being the suspension of federal funding due to the extreme nature that the school has gone and the way they went about removing his FinalForms and from having access to his children.
ALARMING UNENROLLMENT
It should be noted that the children were uprooted from Ashland City School’s the same day that an explosive article broke exposing the mother for a myriad of issues pertaining to the children, outlined within were clear examples of abuse taking place. One of the couple’s children were also involved in counseling at Ashland and the father was in the process of informing the school as to what was transpiring as he received the information in an effort to get his eight year old son to open up about the abuse he was being subjected to – Ashland City School counselor’s stated that he was unwilling to talk about marks found on his face. The mother then unenrolled the children and effectively had Mansfield remove him as their father and emergency contact…
FATHER’S STATEMENT
“You go through a divorce and all of a sudden you lose access to your kids completely in every single way?“
“I’m their father, I’m on their birth certificates, I’ve been in their lives for their entire lives. I have had communications with this school and it’s principal in the past regarding my children, they are well aware of who I am. I had custody of them all by myself for 6.5 months from April until November and at one point she unenrolled them from Ashland during that time period and I had to re-enroll them again. This situation is vastly different. For the secretary to alter my FinalForms account and then talk to me for more than a week and act like she has no clue what is going on is beyond unprofessional and it’s actually really demented if you ask me. At this point I feel like my children have been kidnapped from me. I haven’t so much as received a phone call from them dating back to November 7th of 2025. I was at least able to check-in with the schools and monitor their progress, speak with teachers and counselors, receive pictures and updates through ClassDojo and ParentSquare, now that’s even been removed. You go through a divorce and all of a sudden you lose access to your kids completely in every single way? I don’t think so. This isn’t normal. I’m really tired of this broken system and the way it’s able to be weaponized in such a malicious way. This shouldn’t even be possible! I informed the school that any abuse they are subjected to without counseling being established will be their full responsibility. I need to have access to attendance records, behavioral records, advise the school as to their living situation as I did with Ashland. Mansfield City School’s are wrong, what they are doing is illegal and they are being very manipulative about everything that they are doing in regards to my children. With that being said I will utilize all legal methods at my disposal to regain my rightful access to my children’s education and to maintain some symbolism of parental rights to them. This is absolute insanity what is taking place and it should have never happened in the first place. This should be a huge wake-up call to every single parent out there, if it can happen to me, it can happen to you…”
THE BOTTOM LINE
SCUMBAGGED Tip: The school clearly unlawfully altered the FinalForms accounts and the secretary was well aware that she did it. The principal refusing to call just shows that on an administrative level that they are obstructionists and conspiratorial in the effort to prohibit the father from having rightful access to his children. If this situation doesn’t rectify itself internally by the Superintendent or some other high ranking school administrator then it will clearly result in wide ranging sanctions and penalties levied against the school. None more so than this public shameful article that has now informed every single parent of what can happen to them if they were to ever find themselves in a similar situation with the Mansfield City School system.
