GORHAM — A junior high school principal was angry after a state health worker handed out condoms to a group of eighth-graders, and the director of the Maine Bureau of Health said Wednesday she would make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I was very surprised that someone would do this,” said Richard Klain, principal of Shaw Junior High School. “I have two children myself, and it’s certainly not something I would want done with my children.”

During the school’s Teen Conference Day on March 21, the condoms were handed out by Susan Cummings-Lawrence, an employee of the state’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Program.

Organizers of the conference said they had no advance knowledge that condoms would be handed out.

“There was an error in judgment on the part of one of our employees who has been a good educator on the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases in the Portland area for four years,” said Dr. Lani Graham, director of the Maine Bureau of Health.

Ms. Graham would not say whether officials planned any disciplinary action against Ms. Cummings-Lawrence.

The distribution of the condoms went against community standards in Gorham, “and you have to pay attention to those standards,” Ms. Graham said.

“We are facing a very serious budget deficit, and our use of condoms ought to be restricted to the areas where they are going to do the most good. That is, our family planning clinics and sexually transmitted disease clinics,” Ms. Graham said.