Secretary of HEW Reviews Guidelines For Buckley Law

Sections of the final regulations for implementing the federal law that gives students access to their school files are being held for review by F. David Mathews, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

An initial series of regulations appeared March 2 in the Federal Register, Roger N. Levy, staff assistant to Sen. James L. Buckley (R-N.Y.), who drafted the law, said yesterday.

"Mathews told us the final set of regulations will be published in total within no more than a couple of months," Levy said, adding that the final version of the regulations will cover in greater detail the material published in the first series.

The first series of regulations deals with:

* Students' rights to seek changes in educational records they feel are misleading;

*Their rights to formal hearings on complaints; and,

* Some of the conditions under which information from such records may be disclosed without students' consent.

Carey P. Peck, research assistant for the Senate Sub-Committee on Education, said yesterday that Mathews is "a new secretary and is taking a new look at the final regulations."

Mathews has spoken of "simplifying" the Buckley amendment guidelines and checking for "over-regulation," Peck said.

"He's not pinning himself down," Peck added. "He's a very clever man."