L. Grimes v. Dept. of Ed. ( 2019 )

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Lance Grimes, : CASE SEALED
Petitioner :
:
v. : No. 1365 C.D. 2018
:
Department of Education, :
Respondent :
ORDER
AND NOW, this 19th day of August, 2019, upon consideration of the
status report filed by Respondent Department of Education (Department) in
compliance with this Court’s order dated July 12, 2019, wherein the Department
informed the Court that Lance Grimes (Petitioner) has exhausted all available
appeal rights and that the Department has issued Petitioner a public reprimand, it is
hereby ORDERED that the Memorandum Opinion filed July 12, 2019, shall be
designated OPINION and it shall be reported, because the provisions of
Section 17.2(a) of the Educator Discipline Act (the Act)1 no longer require that the
proceeding before this Court remain confidential.
P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge
1
Act of December 12, 1973, P.L. 397, as amended, added by Act of December 18, 2013,
P.L. 1205, 24 P.S. § 2070.17b(a). Section 17.2(a) of the Act imposes confidentiality and
provides, in part, as follows:
[A]ll information relating to any complaints or any proceedings relating to or
resulting from such complaints, including the identity of the complainant, shall
remain confidential, unless or until discipline is imposed, other than a private
reprimand or a supplemental sanction deemed private by the commission . . . . All
records pertaining to proceedings resulting in public discipline, excluding those
records that are privileged or otherwise protected from release, shall become
public after the exhaustion of all appeals except where the [Professional
Standards and Practices C]ommission has determined that immediate discipline is
necessary. Records pertaining to immediate discipline proceedings are public at
the time that the immediate discipline is imposed.
(Emphasis added.)