(a) The governing board of any school district may offer a fingerprint program for children enrolled in kindergarten or newly enrolled in that district. The governing board may contract with any public or private agency, including any civic or community organization if determined to be appropriate by the governing board, to perform the fingerprinting. The governing board may seek to obtain private funding and volunteer assistance in performing the fingerprinting. The department shall adopt rules and regulations concerning obtaining private funding and volunteer assistance, and develop fingerprinting standards, as approved by the Department of Justice, to be followed in the fingerprinting of children pursuant to this article.
The governing board of any school district offering a fingerprinting program pursuant to this article shall assess a fee to the parent or guardian of the fingerprinted pupils. The fee shall be calculated to reimburse the district only for actual costs associated with the program.
(b) In a school district which elects to offer a fingerprinting program pursuant to this article, each parent or guardian of a child shall be informed of the school fingerprinting program when he or she first enrolls the child in the public schools. At that time the parent or guardian shall declare, in writing, whether or not he or she wants the child to be fingerprinted in the school program and if the parent or guardian consents to the fingerprinting he or she shall pay the applicable fee. The parent or guardian shall be informed in writing at the time of enrollment that he or she may reverse in writing his or her declaration on fingerprinting at any time. Children shall not be fingerprinted without the consent of the parent or guardian.
(c) Any report or document containing fingerprints of a child which is made pursuant to this article shall be given to the parents or guardian of the child and shall not be given to, or retained by, the school district or any other private or public entity. The report or document containing the fingerprints may be given to the parents or guardian with the child’s report card or any other document routinely mailed to parents or guardians, or may be given to parents or guardians in person at any conference with the child’s teacher. To the maximum extent feasible, the report or document containing the fingerprints shall not be sent to the parents in a separate mailing.
(d) As used in this article, the terms “school district,” and “governing board” include a county superintendent of schools.
(Amended by Stats. 1987, Ch. 134, Sec. 4. Effective July 7, 1987.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018