2.021 Criminal
Background and Employment.
(1) Initial
Employment. Prior to recommendation
for initial employment, all candidates for all positions shall be subject to a
criminal background check to determine suitability for employment. The application for employment shall inform
applicants they are subject to criminal background checks. The application shall advise applicants that
failure to be truthful on the application about prior criminal history will be
grounds for ineligibility or dismissal from employment.
(2) When
a person is offered a position in the district, that applicant shall, as a
condition of employment, file a complete set of fingerprints taken by a
designated employee of the district trained to take fingerprints. The fingerprints shall be processed by the
(3) A
Criminal Background Check (CBC) Committee shall be established to review all
persons nominated for initial employment with a criminal history. The CBC Committee shall obtain criminal
background information (Level II Screening) for applicants through requests to
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). The CBC Committee
shall consist of the following:
(a) Executive Director of Human Resources
(b) Personnel Services Supervisor
(c) Executive Director Representative
(d) Teaching and Learning Representative
(e) Executive Director, Recruitment/Equal
(f) Director,
Safety and Security
(4) When
the fingerprint or background check reports reflect a criminal history, the
Committee shall review both the application and the report(s) concerning the
individual. The CBC Committee shall also
request and compare information provided by the new employee with the
information received from the FDLE and/or the FBI (Level II) pursuant to s.
1012.21 and 1012.23, Florida Statutes.
In addition, the Superintendent or his designee shall document, contact
or attempts to contact all prior employers for a minimum of the past five (5)
years and all private or public educational institutions by which the applicant
was previously employed while age eighteen (18) or older.
(5) The CBC
Committee shall review and make a determination regarding all applicants for
whom a background check identifies a potential problem. The CBC Committee may reject an applicant,
recommend consideration or recommend a waiver based upon mitigating
circumstances under the conditions of sections 8 and 9 below. An applicant may appeal the action of the CBC
Committee as described in section 11 below.
(6) No
employee shall be hired or report to a work site before the FDLE and FBI
background (Level II) is reviewed and the individual has been cleared.
(7) Based
upon the facts of an application, criminal background check or other valid or
reliable data sources, applicants who are convicted of the serious offenses
listed below in 7a through f shall not be employed by the School Board of Leon
County subject to the exceptions permitted in 8 below. As used in this section the term conviction
is defined as a finding of guilt, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere, or a verdict of
guilty. The withholding of adjudication
or the entry of an order sealing or expunging the record requiring a pre-trial
intervention or pre-trial diversion shall not be considered an exception to this
section.
(a) Inappropriate
sexual conduct including, but not limited to prostitution, solicitation of
prostitution, sexual battery, sexual relations with a minor, possession or sale
of pornography involving minors, computer pornography or obscene literature.
(b)
(c) Any crime or offense enumerated in
435.04,
(d) Possession
of a gun or weapon on a School Board’s property or use of a weapon in the
commission of a violent crime.
(e) Knowingly
falsifying or altering employment application, paperwork, district forms or
other documents or certificates.
(f) Conviction
of any felony as noted in 435.04, Florida Statutes.
(8) The
CBC Committee may identify specific mitigating circumstances for the above
serious offenses and recommend a waiver to the School Board to allow
consideration of an applicant only if there is no threat to the safety of
students or coworkers. The Superintendent shall so notify the Board of the
request of a waiver.
(9) In
situations where an applicant has been convicted of the offenses listed below
or found to have committed an act in an administrative proceeding or a civil
action, consideration of certain mitigating circumstances may be applied by the
CBC Committee that allow for consideration of an applicant without a request
for a waiver from the School Board. In
these situations where an applicant is nominated for employment due to
mitigation, the Superintendent will personally approve the recommendation of
the committee and so notify the Board.
(a) Possession
or use of controlled substances.
(b) Driving under the influence of alcohol
or unsafe driving record.
(c) Bad
checks, misappropriation of funds or theft of personal property.
(d) Committing
or conviction of a misdemeanor.
(e) Harassment,
discrimination, or incidents that evidence prejudice of a student or adult on
the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin,
political beliefs, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or social and
family background; or harassment or discrimination which interferes with an
individual’s work responsibilities or with the orderly processes of education
or which creates a hostile, intimidating, abusive, offensive, or oppressive
environment.
(f) Committing
a felony not included in 435.04,
(10) The
circumstances for each situation identified in 7a-f and 9a-f above will be
individually considered as well as the position to which the applicant is
applying. Aggravating and mitigating
factors or circumstances to be considered by the CBC Committee include:
(a) The
severity of the offense.
(b) The
age of the victim or student/child involvement.
(c) The danger
posed to the public including the degree of physical and mental harm to a
student, other employees or members of the public.
(d) The
actual damage, physical or otherwise, caused by the misconduct.
(e) Any
repetition of the offense(s) and length of time between offenses.
(f) Attempts by
the applicant to correct or stop the misconduct or mitigate its effect.
(g) Actual
negligence of the applicant pertaining to any misconduct.
(h) Pecuniary
benefit or self-gain to the applicant realized by the misconduct.
(i) The deterrent effect of the punishment
or discipline imposed.
(j) Related
misconduct by the applicant in other employment including findings of guilt or
innocence, discipline imposed and/or discipline served.
(k) Any effort of rehabilitation by the
applicant.
(l) If
previously employed by the district, the number of times the applicant has been
previously disciplined by the district as well as the type of discipline.
(m) The length of
time since the misconduct, with a minimum of three (3) years. (In circumstances
where there is one offence which is not violent or child related, applicants
may be considered within the three year period.)
(n) Any other
relevant mitigating or aggravating factors under the circumstances.
(11) Reconsideration and Appeal.
(a) Applicants
who have been denied employment because of their criminal record shall receive
written notice and may request reconsideration by the CBC Committee only if
they present new information not previously available to the committee.
(b) Applicants
who have been denied consideration by the CBC Committee may appeal to the
Superintendent or designee for a reconsideration of their case. Their appeal must be in writing and may not
include any documents or material which has not been previously considered by
the CBC Committee. Approval of a waiver
by the Superintendent or designee shall be communicated to the School Board at
the time of nomination. The findings and
the decision of the Superintendent shall be final.
(c) Probationary
employees who have been denied permanent employment because of their criminal
record shall receive a written notice from the CBC Committee and notice of the
right to appeal such a decision. They
shall be advised of their appeal rights to the Superintendent or the
Superintendent’s designee. The employee
shall have the opportunity to respond in writing to the findings and the
decision of the Superintendent shall be final.
(12) Current
Employees.
(a) Whenever
a personnel investigation of a complaint against an employee is required, or
notice is provided from a law enforcement agency, a criminal background check
may be conducted as part of the investigation.
(b) All employees
shall be subject to a criminal background check every five years at a time
determined by law or administrative procedure.
The cost for the background check may be paid by the district or individual
at the time of fingerprinting. If it is
discovered during the period of employment that a regular employee has a prior
criminal record and that the employee did not provide this information at the
time of hire, if asked, the employee may be subject to disciplinary action,
including dismissal for falsified application, or otherwise having misled the
district.
(c) If
it is discovered during the period of employment that a regular employee has a
prior criminal record and no falsification of an application nor
attempt to mislead occurred, the record shall be reviewed by the Criminal
Background Check Committee. The
Committee shall consider the mitigating conditions described in section (10)
above before reporting a finding of fact, possible mitigation and
recommendations for action to the Superintendent. The employee shall have the opportunity to
respond in writing to the findings. The
Superintendent shall review the record, recommendation and response before
taking any action. Appeal of the Superintendent’s
action shall follow collective bargaining agreements or School Board Policy, as
appropriate.
(d) School
Board personnel who have been terminated because of their criminal record shall
receive written notice of the right to appeal such a decision consistent with
the collective bargaining agreements and district policy. The final decision for termination shall be
made by the School Board.
(13)
Volunteers, Student Teachers,
Mentors and Interagency Agreements.
(a)
Student
teachers, interns, practicum students or other persons participating in a field
experience pursuant to s. 1004.04(6) or s. 1004.85, F.S., and persons
participating in a short term experience as a teacher assistant pursuant to s.
1004.04(10) shall undergo a full FDLE and FBI background screening (Level II).
(b)
All school volunteers who are in
classrooms or schools, or students observing or participating in volunteer or
service learning projects not requiring direct services to students, shall be
registered and screened against the FDLE Sexual Predator data base prior to
entering a classroom. All mentors
and work study students shall be screened against the FDLE criminal data base
(Level II).
(c)
Students,
volunteers or mentors who have been denied participation in district activities
shall have the same reconsideration and appeal process as is available to
employees as described in section (11) of this policy.
(d)Criminal Background Checks and/or other screening
requirements shall be included, as appropriate, in interagency agreements where
direct services are provided to students or by students to other persons.
(14) Contractors
and Other Vendors.
(a)
All
instructional and non instructional personnel who are contracted to fill
positions that provide vendors and services requiring direct contact with
students shall, upon engagement to provide services, undergo a full FDLE and
FBI background screening (Level II).
(b)
All
instructional and non-instructional school district employees, vendors or
contractual personnel including construction contractors and subcontractors who
are permitted access on school grounds when students are present shall undergo
a full FDLE and FBI background screening (Level II).
(c)
All
instructional and non-instructional school district employees or contractual
personnel who have access to or control over schools funds shall undergo a full
FDLE and FBI background screening Level II).
(d) All instructional and non-instructional
personnel who are contracted to fill positions that provide services where no
students are present shall, upon engagement to provide services, undergo a
sexual predator check through FDLE.
(15) Construction
Contractors and Subcontractors.
(a)
Prior
to the start of work on any LCSB site, all construction contractors and other
vendors including but not limited to construction managers, company owners,
architects, engineers, specialty contractors, subcontractors and personnel for
the same shall be subject to a criminal background check to determine
suitability to perform work on a LCSB site.
(b)
In
the event a contract results in the deployment of personnel, whether they are a
direct employee of the contractor or a subcontractor, to Leon County School
sites or any Leon County School District property it is the responsibility of
the contractor to follow the requirements of this policy.
(c)
For
a work site where there will be no students
present, the contractor or vendor shall screen all personnel on the FDLE or
other appropriate sexual predator database. No personnel shall work at a
(d)
For
work areas that are part of the school site where students will be present,
the contractor or vendor shall direct all personnel considered for the
performance of work on an LCSB site to be fingerprinted by LCSB for a Level II
background check. No personnel shall
work at a site where students may be present that have been convicted of a
serious offense in Section (7) above or convicted of a crime in the last three
years of an offense listed in Section (9), each of which are subject to LCSB
Department screening and CBC Committee mitigation consideration process. A name badge indicating level of clearance
must be visibly worn at all times.
(e)
Contractors
and other vendors shall be required to complete the background check
appropriate to their work engagement on any LCSB site and to pay the processing
and maintenance fee required for all the appropriate background checks.
(f) Contractors, subcontractors or other
vendors who have been denied access to a school or district site shall have the
same reconsideration and appeal process as is available to employees as
described in section (11) of this policy.
(g)
Failure
to meet policy requirements may result in a stop work order and/or revocation
of the contract.
(16) Identification
Badges. Identification badges will
be issued to all Leon County Schools employees;
student teachers, interns, practicum students, or other persons participating
in a field experience pursuant to s. 1004.04(6) or s. 1004.85, F.S. and persons
participating in a short term experience as a teacher assistant pursuant to s.
1004.04(10); all school volunteers who are in classrooms or schools, or
students observing or participating in volunteer or service learning projects;
and vendors or contractual personnel including construction contractors and
subcontractors. The school board
authorizes the superintendent to develop procedures for issuing and maintaining
identification badges.
Statutory Authority: 1001.41, F.S.
Law Implemented: 1012.21-23, 1012.32 and 1012.33-1012.56, F.S.
Policy Adopted: