(a) A private occupational school shall maintain, preserve and protect, in a manner approved by the executive director, or the executive director’s designee, all school records including, but not limited to: (1) Student or academic transcripts, including, in a separate file, a duplicate copy of the academic transcript of each student who graduated from such school, and a duplicate copy of the academic transcript of each student enrolled at such school that contains the student’s name, address, program of study, length of such program of study, grade point average and courses completed; (2) attendance records or other indicators of student progress; (3) copies of individual enrollment agreements or contracts; (4) evidence of tuition payments; and (5) any other documentation as prescribed by the executive director.

(b) The executive director, or the executive director’s designee, may at any time during regular business or school hours, with or without notice, visit a private occupational school. During such visitation, the executive director, or the executive director’s designee, may request an officer or director of the school to produce, and shall be provided with immediate access to, such records or information as are required to verify that the school continues to meet the conditions of authorization. If the executive director determines that such private occupational school has not maintained, preserved or protected school records in accordance with this section, the executive director may assess an administrative penalty on such private occupational school pursuant to section 10a-22i.

(c) If a school ceases to operate as a private occupational school, it shall (1) immediately transmit all student or academic transcripts, described in subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section, to the executive director, and (2) keep the executive director advised in writing as to the location and availability of all other student records or shall file all such other student records with the executive director.

(d) The executive director shall maintain all records, files and other documents associated with private occupational schools in a manner consistent with the mission and responsibilities of the Office of Higher Education.

(P.A. 06-150, S. 15; P.A. 11-48, S. 238; P.A. 17-139, S. 5.)

History: P.A. 11-48 amended Subsec. (a) to replace “Commissioner of Higher Education” with “executive director”, “commissioner” with “executive director” and “commissioner’s” with “executive director’s”, effective July 1, 2011 (Revisor’s note: In Subsecs. (b) and (c), “commissioner” and “commissioner’s” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “executive director” and “executive director’s”, respectively, to conform with changes made by P.A. 11-48, S. 232); P.A. 17-139 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by adding provision re duplicate copies of academic transcripts of graduated students and enrolled students, amended Subsec. (b) by adding provision re administrative penalty, amended Subsec. (c) by adding Subdiv. (1) re immediate transmittal of student or academic transcripts to executive director, designating existing provision re advising executive director of student records or filing records with executive director as Subdiv. (2) and amending same to add references to other student records, and added Subsec. (d) re manner of maintaining all records, files and other documents, effective July 1, 2017.