Oregon Statutes - Chapter 326 - State Administration of Education - Section 326.603 - Authority of school districts and schools to obtain fingerprints and criminal records check of employees and contractors; fee.

(1) For the purposes of requesting a state or nationwide criminal records check under ORS 181.534, the Department of Education may require the fingerprints of:

(a) A school district or private school contractor, whether part-time or full-time, or an employee thereof, whether part-time or full-time, who has direct, unsupervised contact with students as determined by the district or private school.

(b) A person newly hired, whether part-time or full-time, by a school district or private school in a capacity not described in ORS 342.223 (1) who has direct, unsupervised contact with children as determined by the district or private school.

(c) A person employed, whether part-time or full-time, by a school district or private school in a capacity not described in ORS 342.223 (1) who has direct, unsupervised contact with children as determined by the district or private school.

(d) A person who is a community college faculty member providing instruction at a kindergarten through grade 12 school site during the regular school day.

(e) A person who is an employee of a public charter school.

(2)(a) A school district shall send to the Department of Education for purposes of a criminal records check any information, including fingerprints, for each person described in subsection (1) of this section.

(b) A private school may send to the Department of Education for purposes of a criminal records check any information, including fingerprints, for each person described in subsection (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d) of this section.

(3) The Department of Education shall request that the Department of State Police conduct a criminal records check as provided in ORS 181.534 and may charge the district or private school a fee as established by rule under ORS 181.534. The school district or private school may recover its costs or a portion thereof from the person described in subsection (1) of this section. If the person described in subsection (1)(b), (c) or (e) of this section requests, the district shall and a private school may withhold the amount from amounts otherwise due the person, including a periodic payroll deduction rather than a lump sum payment.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the department may not require fingerprints of a person described in subsection (1) of this section if the person or the person’s employer was checked in one school district or private school and is currently seeking to work in another district or private school unless the person lived outside this state during the interval between the two periods of time of working in the district or private school.

(5) Nothing in this section requires a person described in subsection (1)(a), (b) or (e) of this section to submit to fingerprinting until the person has been offered employment or a contract by a school district or private school. Contractor employees may not be required to submit to fingerprinting until the contractor has been offered a contract.

(6)(a) If the Superintendent of Public Instruction informs the school district that the person has been convicted of a crime listed in ORS 342.143 or has made a false statement as to the conviction of a crime, the superintendent shall notify the school district of the fact and the district shall not employ or contract with the person. Notification by the superintendent that the school district shall not employ or contract with the person shall remove the person from any school district policies, collective bargaining provisions regarding dismissal procedures and appeals and the provisions of ORS 342.805 to 342.937.

(b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall notify the private school if the person has been convicted of a crime listed in ORS 342.143 or has made a false statement as to the conviction of a crime. Based on the notice, the private school may choose not to employ or contract with the person.

(7) If a person described in subsection (1) of this section refuses to consent to the criminal records check or refuses to be fingerprinted or if the person falsely swears to the nonconviction of a crime, the district shall terminate the employment or contract status of the person. Termination under this subsection removes the person from any school district policies, collective bargaining provisions regarding dismissal procedures and appeals and the provisions of ORS 342.805 to 342.937.

(8) A school district may not hire or continue to employ or contract with or allow the contractor to continue to assign a person to the school project if the person described in subsection (1) of this section has been convicted of a crime according to the provisions of ORS 342.143.

(9) As used in this section and ORS 326.607:

(a) “Private school” means a school that provides educational services as defined in ORS 345.505 and is registered as a private school under ORS 345.505 to 345.575.

(b) “School district” means:

(A) A school district as defined in ORS 330.003.

(B) The Oregon School for the Blind.

(C) The Oregon School for the Deaf.

(D) An educational program under the Youth Corrections Education Program.

(E) A public charter school as defined in ORS 338.005.

(F) An education service district. [1993 c.674 §8; 1995 c.67 §40; 1995 c.446 §7; 1997 c.4 §1; 1997 c.536 §1; 1997 c.753 §2; 1999 c.200 §25; 1999 c.1054 §4; 2001 c.407 §4; 2005 c.730 §13; 2007 c.35 §1; 2007 c.858 §63]

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Last modified: August 7, 2008