An Act To Improve Teacher Confidentiality Laws
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §13004, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 666, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
2-A. Confidentiality. The provisions of this subsection govern confidentiality. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "certification" means certification, authorization or approval under this chapter and chapter 502.
A. Complaints and responses pursuant to section 13020 and any other information or materials that may result in an action to deny, revoke or suspend certification are confidential, except when submitted in court proceedings to revoke or suspend certification.
B. Except for information designated confidential under section 6101 or section 6103, information designated confidential under paragraph A may be released or used by the department as necessary to:
(1) Complete its own investigations;
(2) Provide information to a national association of state directors of teacher education and certification to which the State belongs;
(3) Assist other public authorities to investigate the same teacher's certification in another jurisdiction;
(4) Report or prevent criminal misconduct or assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations; or
(5) Report child abuse or neglect under Title 22, section 4011-A.
C. The department may publish and release as public information statistical summaries of complaints and dispositions as long as the release of such information does not jeopardize the confidentiality of individually identifiable information.
Effective September 12, 2009