Two Rock Union School District*

Recommendations 11

• R1
  Each public school district in Sonoma County should have at least one employee who is trained and authorized to access the DOJ website within and official and specified schedule. This employee should fully understand the way in which information is to be communicated. Further, in the absence of this employee, a suitable alternate person or system should be in place to responsibly retrieve valuable information as it is posted. This system should also cover notices from the DOJ sent via U. S. Mail. Response to R.1: Our District Business Manager is the designee responsible for accessing all fingerprint information, and is trained in all aspects of the processes involved. The District Superintendent is trained as an alternate.
• R4
  School districts should consider changing their policies to require successful employee applicants to pay for their own fingerprinting and background responses from DOJ and FBI. There is at least $65,000 in 06- 07 school district budgets for fingerprinting. As costs are shifted to paid employees, districts could use the savings to fund costs for volunteers. Response to R.4: Your input is appreciated. This has been a discussion item in the past and will be brought to the School Board for consideration. R.5: School districts should amend their policies, if needed, to allow for volunteer names to be public information and readily available so that a greater scrutiny is provided. Response to R.5: A sign-in of all visitors, including volunteers, is a requirement in place at Two Rock School. The sign-in sheets are located on the front counter of the school office and allow for public scrutiny. R.6 Schools should routinely check out names of adult volunteers on Megan's Law website (a public posting of sexual predators) even if fingerprinting is scheduled, and always do so if no fingerprinting is scheduled for that volunteer. Response to R.6: This is a practice we will put in place as a matter of routine in screening all volunteers including those, such as parents of our students, who are not routinely fingerprinted.
• R5
  School districts should amend their policies, if needed, to allow for volunteer names to be public information and readily available so that a greater scrutiny is provided. Response to R.5: A sign-in of all visitors, including volunteers, is a requirement in place at Two Rock School. The sign-in sheets are located on the front counter of the school office and allow for public scrutiny.
• R6
  Schools should routinely check out names of adult volunteers on Megan's Law website (a public posting of sexual predators) even if fingerprinting is scheduled, and always do so if no fingerprinting is scheduled for that volunteer. Response to R.6: This is a practice we will put in place as a matter of routine in screening all volunteers including those, such as parents of our students, who are not routinely fingerprinted. R7. School district should request criminal activity records from the Sonoma County Superior Court Records Division of any adult wanting to volunteer with students. This service is available at no cost to the district. Response to R.7: This is a valuable recommendation and a service of which we had not previously been aware. We will build this into our process of ensuring the safety of all students.
• R7
  School district should request criminal activity records from the Sonoma County Superior Court Records Division of any adult wanting to volunteer with students. This service is available at no cost to the district. Response to R.7: This is a valuable recommendation and a service of which we had not previously been aware. We will build this into our process of ensuring the safety of all students. R.8 School districts should, individually or collectively, request that the DOJ implement a system to confirm district receipt of Notices of Subsequent Arrest. A system that would require the DOJ to follow up if no confirmation was received would at least give school districts some assurance that information trusted to the U.S. Mail or electronic mail servers is actually being received. Response to R.8: This recommendation is appreciated. As one of the smaller districts serving Sonoma County, it will be our recommendation that the county superintendent investigate and pursue this recommendation. R.9 School districts should request FBI responses on all classified employees and volunteers that they do a DOJ response regardless of the time they have lived in California. The relatively small fee of $24 to get prior criminal activity from a national database seems justifiable, reasonable, and the right action to take. Response to R.9: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration.
• R8
  School districts should, individually or collectively, request that the DOJ implement a system to confirm district receipt of Notices of Subsequent Arrest. A system that would require the DOJ to follow up if no confirmation was received would at least give school districts some assurance that information trusted to the U.S. Mail or electronic mail servers is actually being received. Response to R.8: This recommendation is appreciated. As one of the smaller districts serving Sonoma County, it will be our recommendation that the county superintendent investigate and pursue this recommendation.
• R9
  School districts should request FBI responses on all classified employees and volunteers that they do a DOJ response regardless of the time they have lived in California. The relatively small fee of $24 to get prior criminal activity from a national database seems justifiable, reasonable, and the right action to take. Response to R.9: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration. R10. School districts should require fingerprinting for all adults (paid and volunteer) involved in athletic programs, overnight field trips, off-campus field trips, and any school-sponsored student activity that occurs outside of the normal school day or hours. Response to R10: This practice is in place. R11. School districts should implement provisions of Education Code Sections 33193 and 45125.2 requiring that certain independent contractors and employees of contractors undergo fingerprinting and background checks. Response to R11: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration. R13. School districts should not allow new employees to begin work until all pre-employment requirements are met. Most specifically, this means that all fingerprinting and criminal history responses that are required have been completed and properly evaluated. Response to R13: This practice is in place in the district. R15. School district should require all volunteers to sign an agreement that outlines behavior do's and don'ts and consequences if agreement terms are broken. Response to R15: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration.
• R10
  School districts should require fingerprinting for all adults (paid and volunteer) involved in athletic programs, overnight field trips, off-campus field trips, and any school-sponsored student activity that occurs outside of the normal school day or hours. Response to R10: This practice is in place.
• R11
  School districts should implement provisions of Education Code Sections 33193 and 45125.2 requiring that certain independent contractors and employees of contractors undergo fingerprinting and background checks. Response to R11: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration.
• R13
  School districts should not allow new employees to begin work until all pre-employment requirements are met. Most specifically, this means that all fingerprinting and criminal history responses that are required have been completed and properly evaluated. Response to R13: This practice is in place in the district.
• R15
  School district should require all volunteers to sign an agreement that outlines behavior do's and don'ts and consequences if agreement terms are broken. Response to R15: This recommendation is appreciated and will be brought to the Board for consideration.