Lawmaker wants to limit spread of recorded classes online
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit the distribution of the recordings of remote school classes.
Rep. Jan Dodge, who introduced the bill, said it is meant to prevent sections of lessons from being shared out of context and to protect teachers and students who might be targeted by people online, the Portland Press Herald reported.
Dodge, a Democrat, said last fall, a parent shared part of a Bangor teacher's lesson to a Facebook page that supported former President Donald Trump where people posted hateful and angry comments about the teacher.
The Legislature's judiciary committee voted last week in favor of the bill with an amendment. The amended bill says a person “may not distribute or retransmit a recorded session of remote instruction.” The bill's original language prohibited any “unauthorized person from accessing, viewing, listening to, disrupting or otherwise participating in remote instruction," for elementary, middle and high school students.
Some parents testified at the hearing that this prohibition was too broad and would prevent them from being informed about their children's education.
“It’s unfortunate the impetus of the bill has been misinterpreted," Dodge said. "This really is about safety and not being inflammatory with the rebroadcasting of portions of lessons on Zoom.”
Transparency and media groups testified against the bill saying prohibitions on public access to records of what happens in schools is not the answer to bullying.
The House will vote on the bill in the coming weeks.