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An Act To Facilitate Remote Learning during School Cancellations
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §4801, sub-§4  is enacted to read:
 
4.  Online alternative for unscheduled school closures.     If a school day is cancelled due to weather or another emergency reason, the day is counted as a school day under subsection 1 if the students of the school receive adequate online instruction pursuant to a plan agreed upon and adopted by the school board and the superintendent of the school administrative unit of the school and forwarded to the department. A plan adopted under this subsection must include an alternative instruction method for a student who does not have the technical capability to participate in online instruction. The department may make recommendations on a plan submitted by a school administrative unit under this subsection and the school administrative unit shall consider the recommendations at the next scheduled meeting of the unit's school board. A school administrative unit is not required to accept or implement a recommendation concerning a plan from the department under this subsection.
 
SUMMARY
This bill allows a school to receive credit for a school day that is cancelled due to weather or another emergency reason if the students of the school receive adequate online instruction or alternative method for students without the technical capability to participate in online instruction pursuant to a plan agreed upon and adopted by the school board and the superintendent of the school administrative unit of the school. The school administrative unit is directed to forward the plan to the Department of Education, which may make recommendations on the plan. The school administrative unit is not required to implement a recommendation concerning the plan made by the department.