North Dakota
North Dakota School Recording Laws: Students, Parents, and Teacher Rights (2026)
Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited November 1, 2026). · Reviewed by the RecordingLaw editorial team. · Law checked current as of November 1, 2026. · 5 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content
North Dakota is a one-party consent state under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-15-02, so students and parents may record school conversations they participate in without notifying the other party, as long as the recording is not made to commit a crime or other unlawful harm. FERPA separately governs how recordings containing other students' education records may be shared.
Recording in North Dakota schools involves balancing student privacy, parent rights, school security, and federal education privacy laws. Under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-15-02, one-party consent allows students and parents to record conversations they participate in, as long as the recording is not for criminal or unlawful purposes. Separately, a 2025 state law (N.D.C.C. § 15.1-07-41) requires every public school district to keep students' personal devices put away during the school day.
This guide covers student recording rights, parent recording at school events and meetings, school surveillance, IEP meeting recording, and the interaction between state and federal law.
Student Recording Rights
Under the wiretap law, students can record conversations they participate in. School rules are a separate matter. Since 2025, N.D.C.C. § 15.1-07-41 requires every public school district to adopt a policy keeping phones, smartwatches, tablets, and other personal devices silenced or turned off, securely stowed, and inaccessible to students from the start of the school day until dismissal, including lunch, recess, and passing time, with enforcement to ensure strict compliance.
The law has two exceptions: a licensed medical provider determines the student needs the device, or the device is required by the student's IEP, Section 504 plan, or another accommodation plan. Recording on a personal phone during the school day will usually break this policy and lead to discipline, even though it is not a crime.
Recording can help document bullying under school anti-bullying policies and support disability accommodation needs through IEPs and 504 plans. The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction oversees education policy.
Parent Recording Rights
Parents can record conversations with teachers, principals, and counselors under one-party consent, which means the recording is not a crime. It does not give a parent a right to record over a school's objection.
For IEP meetings, the U.S. Department of Education's guidance under IDEA (64 Fed. Reg. 12477, 1999) says Part B does not address recording, so a state or school district may require, prohibit, limit, or otherwise regulate it. A policy that prohibits or limits recording must allow an exception when the recording is needed for the parent to understand the IEP or the IEP process. Check your district's policy before the meeting, and ask in writing if you need to record to follow it. Section 504 meetings are governed by district policy.
A school can also make its own recording, and a recording of an IEP meeting that the school keeps is part of your child's education record under FERPA.
School board meetings are subject to the Open Records and Meetings Law, allowing recording of open sessions.
School Surveillance Cameras
No North Dakota statute lists where a school may place cameras, and schools commonly use them in hallways, cafeterias, entrances, parking lots, and on buses. What the law forbids is secret recording into private spaces: surreptitiously installing or using a device to record in a place where a reasonable person would expect privacy, such as a bathroom, locker room, shower, or changing room, with intent to intrude on privacy, is a class B misdemeanor under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-31-14. Done for sexual gratification where students undress, it is a class A misdemeanor under § 12.1-20-12.2, and a class C felony when the victim is a minor.
FERPA Considerations
FERPA protects student education records. FERPA does not restrict parents from recording their own child's meetings, though a school may limit recording of IEP meetings as described above. Recordings capturing other students' identifiable information should be handled carefully when shared.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can parents record IEP meetings in North Dakota?
It depends on your district. Recording a meeting you attend is not a crime under one-party consent, but federal IDEA guidance lets a school limit or prohibit recording of IEP meetings, as long as it allows recording when the parent needs it to understand the IEP or the process. Check the district policy and ask in advance. A recording the school keeps becomes part of your child's education record.
Can students record teachers in North Dakota?
It is not a crime if the student takes part in the conversation and the recording is not for unlawful purposes. But since 2025, state law requires public schools to keep student phones and personal devices stowed and inaccessible all school day, so recording on a phone at school usually breaks school policy and can lead to discipline.
Can schools put cameras in locker rooms in North Dakota?
Not secretly. Surreptitiously recording into a locker room, bathroom, or changing area with intent to intrude on privacy is a crime under N.D.C.C. 12.1-31-14, and a more serious one under 12.1-20-12.2 when done for sexual gratification. Schools keep cameras to hallways, cafeterias, and other common areas.
Can I record a school board meeting in North Dakota?
Yes. School board meetings are subject to the Open Records and Meetings Law and open sessions can be recorded.
Does FERPA prevent parents from recording at school?
No. FERPA restricts schools from sharing education records, not parents from making recordings. Handle recordings containing other students' information carefully.
Updates
Clarified that FERPA, not every rule, leaves parents free to record their child's meetings (schools may limit IEP recording), and added the crime-or-unlawful-harm limit to the opening summary of the one-party rule.
We corrected the IEP-recording section to explain that a school may limit or prohibit recording under federal guidance, added North Dakota's 2025 law requiring public schools to keep student devices stowed all school day, and replaced a flat camera-location ban with the actual crimes and their elements.
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources; governing law re-checked for recent changes
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources; governing law re-checked for recent changes
Governing law re-checked for recent changes
Reviewed and approved by an editor
The Law Behind This Article
This article rests on the statutory provisions below, held in our own legal record and retrieved from the official source. Tap a section to read the operative text.
North Dakota Century Code
§ 12.1-15-02Interception of wire or oral communications - EavesdroppingIn forcecited in 18 of our articles
A person is guilty of a class C felony if he: Intentionally intercepts any wire or oral communication by use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device; or Intentionally discloses to any other person or intentionally uses the contents of any wire or oral communication, knowing that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire or oral communication. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if he secretly loiters about any building with intent to overhear discourse or conversation therein and to repeat or publish the same with intent to vex, annoy, or injure others. It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection 1 that: The actor was authorized by law to intercept, disclose, or use, as the case may be, the wire or oral communication. The actor was: A person acting under color of law to intercept a wire or oral communication, and He was a party to the communication or one of the parties to the communication had given prior consent to such interception.
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-09-24 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at ndlegis.gov
Cited in 5 court opinions in our collectionLatest citing opinion in our collection: 2023
In the courts (editorial summary, independently checked):Fargo Women's Health Organization, Inc. v. Larson (1986) applied the subsection 3(c) defense to this section and held that recordings of calls were properly admitted because the callers knew of and consented to the recording of their own conversations.
Opinions citing this section in our collection:
- Fargo Women's Health Organization, Inc. v. Larson (North Dakota Supreme Court 1986, 391 N.W.2d 627)✓A private investigator hired by an abortion clinic recruited callers to phone a rival anti-abortion clinic and recorded the calls with the callers' consent; the court held that consent triggered the defense in section 12.1-15-02(3)(c), so the tapes were admitted.
- Bartnicki v. Vopper (Supreme Court of the United States 2001, 532 U.S. 514)“…Ann. § 30-12-1 (1994); N. C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-287 (1999); N. D. Cent. Code § 12.1-15-02 (1997); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2933.52…”
- American Civil Liberties Union of Ill. v. Alvarez (Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 2012, 679 F.3d 583)“…55 § 750.539c; N.D. Cent. Code. Ann. § 12.1-15-02. The Cali- fornia statute is illustrat…”
Identified automatically from the court opinions citing this section — not a ranking of which case controls.
Also relied on in: North Dakota Smart Glasses Recording Laws (2026), North Dakota Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules, North Dakota Audio Recording Laws: One-Party Consent Rules and Penalties (2026)
Sources and References
- N.D.C.C. § 12.1-15-02(ndlegis.gov).gov
- FERPA(studentprivacy.ed.gov).gov
- IDEA(sites.ed.gov).gov
- ND DPI(nd.gov).gov
- North Dakota Attorney General - Open Records(attorneygeneral.nd.gov).gov