An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 3 – Hiring

5. R EQUIREMENTS F OR E MPLOYING C ONTRACT E MPLOYEES When a private school contracts with an outside entity to hire employees to provide school janitorial services, school site administrative services, school site grounds and landscape maintenance, pupil transportation, or school site food-related services, the contract employees must submit their fingerprints together with a fee determined by the DOJ to be sufficient to reimburse the department for its costs incurred in processing the application. 199 This requirement does not apply to private schools in an emergency situation, such as when student health or safety is endangered or when repairs are needed to make school facilities safe and habitable. 200 This requirement also does not apply to contract employees working at a private school when the school determines that the employees will have limited contact with pupils. 201 In determining whether a contract employee has limited contact with pupils, the school should consider factors such as the length of time the contractor will be on school grounds, whether students will be in proximity with the site where the contractor will be working, and whether the contractor will be working alone or with others. If a private school has determined that the contract employee will have limited contact with students, the school must take appropriate steps to protect the safety of any students that may come in contact with this employee. 202 6. R EQUIREMENTS F OR E MPLOYING C ONSTRUCTION C ONTRACTORS If a school contracts with an entity for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or repair of a school facility where the employees of the entity will have more than limited contact with students, the school must ensure the students’ safety by one or more of the following: (1) installation of a physical barrier at the worksite to limit contact with students; (2) continual supervision and monitoring of all of the outside entity’s employees by an employee of the entity whom the DOJ has ascertained has not been convicted of a violent or serious felony; or (3) surveillance of the entity’s employees by school personnel. 203 G. C ONVICTIONS A ND C RIMINAL O FFENDER R ECORD I NFORMATION 1. U SE O F C RIMINAL B ACKGROUND I NFORMATION G ENERALLY Under various state laws, private schools may not use particular enumerated criminal records and information in making hiring decisions. 204 Under the FEHA, which is California’s anti- discrimination statute, schools also may not use other forms of criminal history in making hiring decisions if doing so would have an adverse impact on applicants on a basis set forth in the FEHA (i.e., a protected status, including gender, race, and national origin). 205 Certain criminal convictions do, however, prevent schools from hiring individuals, and therefore, schools must consider those convictions during the hiring process.

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