FILE: GBC
Cf: GBD
RECRUITMENT
The Monroe City School Board shall make a concerted effort to employ the best employees available, and to assign such employees to positions, departments, levels or subject fields in which they have achieved full qualification or certification.
When filling vacancies in positions of authority or those with policy making duties, the School Board or any agent acting on behalf of the School Board shall not utilize only oral contacts and interviews of applicants considered, or use any other means to circumvent the provisions of this statute. Nothing, however, shall prohibit oral contact prior to a person becoming an applicant or shall prohibit oral contact which may result in a written application or other documents.
NEW TEACHERS
The Monroe City School System shall actively recruit, on a non-discriminatory basis, new teachers by attending recruitment day activities at accredited institutions of higher learning in Louisiana offering degrees in education. Recruitment efforts may also be conducted at selected accredited institutions of higher learning in other states where, in the judgment of the school system’s administration, adequate funding is available for such efforts and there is reason to believe that sufficient numbers of education graduates may be found to justify attendance at such out of state recruitment day activities.
In addition to on-campus recruitment activities, the school system may periodically contact personnel departments in other states that are successful in recruiting teachers, advertise in a diverse variety of employment and educational journals, including the official web page, and advertise openings in such publications that are intended to reach as broad and diverse a group of perspective teachers as practicable.
The School Board shall conduct an annual Job Fair to attract teacher applicants.
APPLICATIONS
Applications submitted for any vacancy shall be retained by the Human Resources Department for a period of not less than one (1) year.
Disclosure of Information by Applicant
Prior to hiring any employee, the School Board shall require the applicant to sign a statement that authorizes the release and disclosure of the following information by the applicant’s current or previous employer(s):
All actual cases of sexual
misconduct with a minor or student by the applicant.
All instances of sexual
misconduct with students, as defined by the Louisiana Board of Elementary
and Secondary Education (BESE), committed by the applicant, if any,
if such employer is/was a city, parish, or other local public School
Board.
Adult sexual misconduct in schools, as defined by BESE for the
purposes of disclosing information to the School Boards includes sexually
inappropriate behavior by the adult that is directed at a student,
including but not limited to sexually-related conversations, jokes,
or questions directed at students. More specifically, sexual
misconduct is:
any conduct that would
amount to sexual harassment under Title IX of the (U.S.) Education
Amendments of 1972, as amended;
any conduct that would
amount to a sexual offense affecting a minor under state criminal
codes;
any sexual relationship
by a school employee with a student, regardless of the student’s
age; with a former student under 18; with a former student (regardless
of age) who suffers from a disability that would prevent consent
in a relationship. All students enrolled in the school
and in any organization in which the school employee holds a position
of trust and responsibility are included;
any activity directed toward establishing a sexual relationship such as sending intimate letters, engaging in sexualized dialogue in person, via the Internet, in writing or by phone, making suggestive comments, dating a student.
All investigations of sexual
misconduct by the applicant with a minor or student that occurred
within thirty-six (36) months prior to the applicant’s resignation,
dismissal, or retirement from employment.
All actual or investigated
cases of abuse or neglect committed by the applicant, if any, if such
employer is/was the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the Louisiana School
for the Visually Impaired, or the Louisiana Special Education Center.
In accordance with the Louisiana Children’s Code, Art. 603:
Abuse means any one of the following acts which seriously endanger the physical, mental, or emotional health and safety of the child:
The infliction,
attempted infliction, or, as a result of inadequate supervision,
the allowance of the infliction or attempted infliction of
physical or mental injury upon the child by a parent or any
other person.
The exploitation
or overwork of a child by a parent or any other person.
The involvement of the child in any sexual act with a parent or any other person, or the aiding or toleration by the parent or the caretaker of the child's sexual involvement with any other person or of the child's involvement in pornographic displays, or any other involvement of a child in sexual activity constituting a crime under the laws of Louisiana.
Neglect means the refusal or willful failure of a parent or caretaker to supply the child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, care, treatment, or counseling for any injury, illness, or condition of the child, as a result of which the child's physical, mental, or emotional health is substantially threatened or impaired. Neglect includes parental neglect. Consistent with Louisiana Children’s Code, Art. 606(B), the inability of a parent or caretaker to provide for a child due to inadequate financial resources shall not, for that reason alone, be considered neglect. Whenever, in lieu of medical care, a child is being provided treatment in accordance with the tenets of a well-recognized religious method of healing which has a reasonable, proven record of success, the child shall not, for that reason alone, be considered to be neglected or maltreated. However, nothing herein shall prohibit the court from ordering medical services for the child when there is substantial risk of harm to the child's health or welfare.
If an investigation determined that a formal allegation of an applicant was inconclusive, unjustified, or otherwise without cause for further formal pursuit, the applicant shall not be required to disclose such information.
The statement shall also request the current or previous employing School Board make available to the School Board, within twenty (20) business days of receipt of the request, copies of all documents as contained in the applicant's personnel file maintained by such employer relative to instances of sexual misconduct, if any. Such request for information shall include a copy of the required statement signed by the applicant.
The School Board may employ any applicant on a conditional basis pending the Board's review of any information obtained pursuant to this request. However, in accordance with statutory provisions, the School Board shall not hire any applicant who does not sign the statement as required by law.
Any information obtained by the School Board as a result of the statement and request outlined above shall be used by the Board only for the purpose of evaluating an applicant's qualifications for employment in the position for which he/she has applied, is not subject to the state public records statutes, and shall not be disclosed to any person, other than the applicant, who is not directly involved in the process of evaluating the applicant’s qualifications for employment.
In addition to the above, the applicant shall grant permission by signing a statement on the application form that permits the School Board to have access to any and all reference, background, and previous employment information and to receive copies of any such documentation from a current or previous employer.
Disclosure of Applicant’s Records
The name of each applicant for certain positions of authority or those with policy making duties, the qualifications of such an applicant, and any relevant employment history or experience of such an applicant shall be available for public inspection, examination, copying, or reproduction as provided for in the statutory provisions governing public works.
CRIMINAL HISTORY OF APPLICANTS
The Monroe City School Board shall require, in accordance with state law, a volunteer or applicant for employment with the School Board to submit necessary information regarding their backgrounds. A volunteer or prospective employee shall be required to provide authorization for the disclosure of any information regarding past criminal activities, including arrests, convictions, having pled nolo contendere, or other dispositions, including dismissal of convictions, of any criminal offense, in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.
A standard applicant fingerprint card acceptable to the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information and a disclosure authorization form shall be provided the volunteer or applicant by the School Board or may be obtained from local police authorities. It shall be the responsibility of the volunteer or applicant to have his/her fingerprints taken by a qualified individual and submitted to the proper authorities for processing. Any cost associated with fingerprinting or the disclosure of background information on a volunteer or applicant may be passed on to the applicant.
No person who has been convicted
of or has plead nolo contendere to crimes listed
in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1 shall be hired as
a teacher, substitute teacher, bus driver, substitute bus driver,
or janitor, or as a temporary, part-time, or permanent school employee
of any kind, unless approved in writing by a district judge and the
district attorney with jurisdiction in this parish, or if employed
on an emergency basis, unless approved in writing by the Superintendent. Any
such statement of approval shall be kept on file at all times at the
location wherein the employee is assigned and shall be produced upon
request by any law enforcement officer.
For the purposes of reviewing
the criminal history of prospective employees, any person employed
to provide cafeteria, transportation, janitorial or maintenance services
by any person or entity that contracts with a school or school system
to provide such services shall be considered to be hired by the school
system.
Every such prospective employee
shall be subjected to fingerprinting and each person's fingerprints
shall be submitted to the proper authorities for a criminal history
review.
A person who has submitted
his/her fingerprints may be temporarily hired pending the results
of the inquiry.
Upon the final conviction
or upon a plea of nolo contendere of any crimes
enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1,
except La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §14:74 (criminal neglect
of family), any teacher may be dismissed following a hearing held
in accordance with statutory provision.
Any other school employee
if such employee is convicted of or pleads nolo contendere
to crimes
enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1,
except La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §14:74, may be dismissed.
A teacher or any other School
Board employee shall report any final conviction or plea of guilty
or nolo contendere to any criminal offense, excluding traffic
offenses, to the School Board within forty-eight (48) hours of conviction
or plea.
The Board may reemploy a teacher or other school employee who has been convicted of crimes enumerated in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §15:587.1, except La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §14:74, only upon written approval of a district judge and the district attorney who has jurisdiction in this school district, or upon written documentation from the court in which the conviction occurred stating that the conviction had been reversed, set aside, or vacated.
Revised: November, 2010
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§15:587, 15:587.1, 17:15, 17:24.2, 17:81, 17:81.9, 17:83, 17:430, 23:291, 44:4.1, 44:12.1, 44:31, 44:31.1, 44:32, 44:33, 44:34
Board minutes, 3-15-11
Monroe City School Board