PERSONNEL RECORDS AND FILES
The school unit shall maintain records of current and former employees in the
Office of the Superintendent in accordance with state and federal laws and
regulations.
DIRECTORY INFORMATION
As required by law, a record of directory information for each employee shall be
open to inspection and copying by any person. Directory information shall
contain:
A. Name of employee;
B. Date(s) of employment by the school unit;
C. Regular and extra-curricular duties, courses, subjects
taught, and any other responsibilities since t
he start of employment by the school
unit;
D. Post-secondary education institution(s) attended;
E. Major and minor field(s) of study as recognized by those
institutions; and
F. Degrees received and dates degrees were awarded.
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
As required by law, all information (except Directory Information) about an
employee, applicant
for employment, or an employee/applicant's immediate family shall be kept
confidential if it relates to the following:
A. All information, working papers, and examinations used in
the evaluation or selection of applicants
for employment;
B. Medical information of any kind, including information
pertaining to diagnosis or treatment of
mental or emotional disorders;
C. Performance evaluations, personal references and other
reports and evaluations reflecting on the
quality or adequacy of the employee's
work or general character compiled and maintained for
employment purposes;
D. Credit information;
E. The personal history, general character or conduct of the
employee or any member of the
employee's immediate family;
F. Complaints, charges of misconduct, replies thereto and
memoranda and other materials pertaining
to disciplinary action;
G. Social Security number;
H. Any teacher action plan and support system documents and
reports maintained for certification
purposes; and
I. Criminal history record information.
PERSONNEL FILES
Personnel files will contain a cumulative history of the staff member’s
employment, including formal or informal employee work evaluations and reports
relating to the employee's character, credit, work habits, compensation and
benefits.
OTHER CONFIDENTIAL PERSONNEL RECORDS
The school unit must maintain the following confidential employee records
separate from the personnel files:
A. Medical information of any kind, and
B. Teacher action plan and support system documents and
reports maintained for certification
purposes.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION INFORMATION
Any written record of a decision involving an employee disciplinary action by
the Board shall not be included within any category of confidential information.
PROCEDURES FOR REVIEW OF PERSONNEL FILES
For the purpose of this section, a personnel file shall include, but not be
limited to, any formal or informal employee evaluations and reports relating to
the employee's character, credit, work habits, compensation and benefits that
are maintained by the school unit for employment purposes.
A. The Superintendent shall, upon written request and within
ten (10) business days, provide the
employee, former employee, or his/her
duly authorized representative(s) an opportunity to review
and copy his/her personnel file, if
the Superintendent has a personnel file for that employee.
B. Reviews of personnel files shall take place at the
location where the personnel files are maintained
and during normal office hours.
C. The cost of any copying is to be paid by the person
requesting the copy.
D. Access to confidential college placement records and
letters of reference will be granted only to
the Superintendent/designee.
ACCESS TO PERSONNEL FILES
Access to personnel files may be given to the following persons without the
consent of the employee:
A. The Superintendent or his/her designee, the employee's
principal or other supervisor(s). Personnel
files are not accessible to
individual Board members. Relevant portions of a personnel file may be
summarized and/or shared with
the Board by the Superintendent when consideration is being
given to performance
evaluation, continuation of employment or disciplinary action.
B. The general public shall have access only to the Directory
Information as outlined above. Access
to personnel files will not be
granted to any other persons except under the following
circumstances:
1. When the
employee gives written consent for the release of his/her records. The written
consent must specify the record(s) to be released and to whom they are to be
released. Each
request for consent must be handled separately; blanket permission for release
of information
will not be accepted; and
2. Upon
advice of counsel, when subpoenaed or under court order.
RECORDS MANAGEMENT
The Superintendent has overall responsibility for maintaining and preserving the
confidentiality of all employee/applicant records. The Superintendent may
designate a staff member who shall
be responsible for granting or denying access to records according to the
guidelines in this policy.
Written reports shall be maintained in personnel files to document compliance
with federal and state laws and regulations and School Board policies regarding
employee evaluations. Once a document is properly placed in a personnel file, it
shall remain in the file permanently.
RECORDS RETENTION
The school unit will retain all personnel records and files in accordance with
applicable laws and regulations.
Legal Reference: 20-A MRSA § 6101
20-A MRSA § 13015
26 MRSA § 631
Chapter 10, Rules for Disposition of Local Government Records (Main State
Archives)
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C.
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. 2611 et seq.
DATE ADOPTED: July 1, 2003
REVISED: February 5, 2004