Resources for Parents, Guardians, and Students’ Families

The Office of Community Standards, Rights, and Responsibilities makes every effort to outreach to our students in a variety of ways before issues arise to the level of going through the conduct process.  Though we try our best, inevitably some situations will require us to contact a parent or guardian for disciplinary reasons.  We try to be as open as possible with students and their families so that we can be educational in correcting disruptive behavior(s).  

In order for us to be able to effectively communicate with a student’s family they will need to have a FERPA waiver on file.  The Student Records website contains more information about FERPA, as well as the Student Information Release Form which you and your student will need to complete for us to talk with you about their disciplinary history.

Our staff and hearing officers may assign “Parental Notification” when the outcome of a case is reached.  A parental notification can occur in one of four ways:

  • We may have the student call you during the meeting so you can be involved in the conversation
  • A staff member might call you after meeting with your student to update you on the conversation and answer any questions you may have
  • You might receive email notification of the students case history – this could either be the outcome letter or a separate parental notification letter
    • A hard copy letter might be “snail” mailed to you if there is no email on file
  • We would ask the student to contact you and explain the situation from their perspective and have you either call or email the hearing officer to answer any follow up questions

The Office of Community Standards, Rights, and Responsibilities staff also rely on parents, guardians, and families to let us know if their student needs additional support throughout the year.  A parent, guardian, or family member can always reach out to our staff at communitystandards@maine.edu or call 207.581.1406.  

Any students brought to our attention will be met with and referred to the appropriate campus resources to ensure they have the greatest chance at success while at UMaine. 

For more information about students needing extra support please see our Concerning Behaviors page.