05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 124, § 2

Current through 2024-25, June 19, 2024

Section 071-124-2 - DEFINITIONS

2.01 Administrator: "Administrator" means any person certified by the Commissioner as an administrator and employed by a school administrative unit in an administrative capacity.

2.02 Assessment: "Assessment" means an educational instrument or activity designed to gather information on a child's knowledge and skill to make instructional decisions.

2.03 Commissioner: "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education or a designee.

2.04 Curriculum: "Curriculum" means the school administrative unit's written document that includes the learning expectations for all children for all domains of development as indicated in the Early Learning and Development Standards.

2.05 Department: "Department" means the Maine Department of Education.

2.07 Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS): "Early Learning and Development Standards" means what should children know and be able to do at kindergarten entry.

2.08 Elementary school: "Elementary school" means that portion of a school that provides instruction in any combination of grades pre-kindergarten through grade 8.

2.09 Essential Programs and Services: "Essential Programs and Services" means those programs and services, as defined by the State Board of Education or adopted by the Legislature, that a school administrative unit offers for each student to have the opportunity to meet the content standards of the system of Early Learning and Development Standards/Learning Results.

2.10 Instructional day: "Instructional day" means a school day during which both students and teachers are present, either in a school or in another setting.

2.11 Instructional time: "Instructional time" means that portion of a school day devoted to the teaching-learning process, but not including extra-curricular activities, lunchtime, or recess. Time spent on organized field trips related to school studies may be considered instructional time, but the instructional time counted for extended field trips shall not exceed a normal school day for each day of the field trip.

2.12 Kindergarten: "Kindergarten" means a one or two-year instructional program aligned with the system of Learning Results, immediately prior to grade one.

2.13 Parent: "Parent" means the parent or legal guardian of a student, or the student if of majority age.

2.14 Provisional Approval: "Provisional Approval" means an approval for a specified period of time during which a school administrative unit must take corrective action to the public preschool program to comply with this rule.

2.15 Public Preschool Program: "Public Preschool Program" means a program offered by a public school that provides instruction to children who are four years of age by October 15th.

2.16 School: "School" means an individual attendance center within a school administrative unit including any combination of grades pre-kindergarten through 12. In this rule, an educational program located in or operated by a juvenile correctional facility, an educational program located in the unorganized territories and operated by the Department of Education, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, and the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing shall be considered schools.

2.17 School administrative unit: "School administrative unit" means the state-approved unit of school administration and includes a municipal school unit, school administrative district, community school district, regional school unit or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation responsible for operating or constructing public schools, except that it does not include a career and technical education region. Beginning July 1, 2009, "school administrative unit" means the state-approved unit of school administration and includes only the following:

A. A municipal school unit;

B. A regional school unit formed pursuant to chapter 103-A;

C. An alternative organizational structure as approved by the commissioner and approved by the voters;

D. A school administrative district that does not provide public education for the entire span of kindergarten to grade 12 that has not reorganized as a regional school unit pursuant to chapter 103-A;

E. A community school district that has not reorganized as a regional school unit pursuant to chapter 103-A;

F. A municipal or quasi-municipal district responsible for operating public schools that has not reorganized as a regional school unit pursuant to chapter 103-A;

G. A municipal school unit, school administrative district, community school district, regional school unit or any other quasi-municipal district responsible for operating public schools that forms a part of an alternative organizational structure approved by the commissioner; and

H. A public charter school authorized under chapter 112 by an entity other than a local school board.

2.18 School calendar: "School calendar" means the schedule of school days adopted in advance of the school year by the school board.

2.19 School day: "School day" means a day in which school is in operation as an instructional day and/or a teacher in-service day.

2.20 School personnel: "School personnel" means individuals employed by a school administrative unit or under contract with the unit to provide services to the children enrolled in the schools of the unit.

2.21 School year: "School year" means the total number of school days in a year as established by the school administrative unit.

2.22 Screening. "Screening: means utilizing a standard or norm-referenced screening tool designed and validated to identify a child's level of performance overall in developmental areas (i.e., cognition, fine motor, gross motor, communication, self-help/adaptive, and gross motor skills). The screening is a brief check (10-15 minutes) of the child's development and is not diagnostic or confirming in content.

2.23 Student records: "Student records" means those records that are directly related to a student and are maintained by a school or a party acting for the school.

2.24 Teacher: "Teacher" means any person who is regularly employed for the instruction of students in a school and who is certified by the Commissioner for this position.

2.25 Teacher in-service day: "Teacher in-service day" means a school day during which a majority of teachers and professional staff report for work, but students are not present for instruction. These days may include days devoted to in-service educational programs, administrative meetings, parent-teacher conferences, record-keeping duties, curriculum preparation, and other similar activities related to the operation of school programs, and may take place in a school in the school administrative unit.

05- 071 C.M.R. ch. 124, § 2