53A-3-410. Criminal background checks on school personnel -- Notice -- Payment
of cost -- Request for review.
(1) A school district superintendent or the superintendent's designee:
(a) shall require a potential employee or a volunteer who will be given significant
unsupervised access to a student in connection with the volunteer's assignment to submit to a
criminal background check as a condition for employment or appointment; and
(b) where reasonable cause exists, may require an existing employee or volunteer to
submit to a criminal background check.
(2) The chief administrative officer of a private school may require, and the chief
administrative officer of the private school that enrolls scholarship students under Chapter 1a,
Part 7, Carson Smith Scholarships for Students with Special Needs Act, shall require:
(a) a potential employee or volunteer to submit to a criminal background check as a
condition for employment or appointment; and
(b) where reasonable cause exists, an existing employee or volunteer to submit to a
criminal background check.
(3) The applicant, volunteer, or employee shall receive written notice that the
background check has been requested.
(4) (a) (i) Fingerprints of the individual shall be taken, and the Criminal Investigations
and Technical Services Division of the Department of Public Safety, established in Section
53-10-103, shall release the individual's full record of criminal convictions to the administrator
requesting the information.
(ii) The division shall maintain a separate file of fingerprints submitted under Subsection
(4)(a)(i) and notify the State Office of Education when a new entry is made against a person
whose fingerprints are held in the file regarding:
(A) any matters involving an alleged sexual offense;
(B) any matters involving an alleged felony or class A misdemeanor drug offense; or
(C) any matters involving an alleged offense against the person under Title 76, Chapter
5, Offenses Against the Person.
(iii) The cost of maintaining the separate file shall be paid by the State Office of
Education from fees charged to those submitting fingerprints.
(b) Information received by the division from entities other than agencies or political
subdivisions of the state may not be released to a private school unless the release is permissible
under applicable laws or regulations of the entity providing the information.
(5) The superintendent, local school board, or their counterparts at a private school shall
consider only those convictions which are job-related for the employee, applicant, or volunteer.
(6) (a) The district or private school shall pay the cost of the background check except as
otherwise provided in Subsection (6)(b), and the monies collected shall be credited to the
Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division to offset its expenses.
(b) The district or private school may require an applicant to pay the costs of a
background check as a condition for consideration for employment or appointment, if:
(i) the applicant:
(A) has passed an initial review;
(B) is one of a pool of no more than five candidates for a position; and
(C) except as may be otherwise provided by state board rule for an applicant who
submitted to a background check while completing a higher education program at a Utah
institution of higher education, has not been the subject of a criminal background check of
similar scope during the preceding two years that was requested by a potential employer or the
State Board of Education; and
(ii) a copy of the background check is provided to the district or school considering
employment or appointment of the applicant.
(7) The Criminal Investigations and Technical Services Division shall, upon request,
seek additional information from regional or national criminal data files in responding to
inquiries under this section.
(8) (a) A private school seeking information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation or
other national criminal data file which the private school may not access directly shall submit its
request to the Teacher Certification Section of the State Board of Education, together with the
required fee and the school's criminal data-related criteria for limiting or rejecting employment.
(b) The section shall submit the request and, upon receiving the requested information,
shall determine whether the subject of the inquiry is entitled to employment under the school's
criteria.
(c) The section shall disclose its determination to the school but may not disclose the
data in the national criminal data file.
(9) (a) The applicant, volunteer, or employee shall have opportunity to respond to any
information received as a result of the background check.
(b) A private school applicant, volunteer, or employee who wishes to respond shall:
(i) submit a request to the school; and
(ii) give a written statement to the Teacher Certification Office authorizing the office to
release the background check information to a hearing officer selected by the individual and the
school.
(c) The individual and the school shall equally share any costs incurred under Subsection
(9)(b).
(d) A public agency shall resolve any request for review by an applicant, volunteer, or
employee seeking employment or employed by the agency through normal administrative
procedures established by the agency.
(10) If a person is denied employment or is dismissed from employment because of
information obtained through a criminal background check, the person shall receive written
notice of the reasons for denial or dismissal and have an opportunity to respond to the reasons
under the procedures set forth in Subsection (9).
(11) Information obtained under this part is confidential and may only be disclosed as
provided in this section.
Amended by Chapter 35, 2005 General Session
Download Code Section Zipped WordPerfect 53A03_041000.ZIP 4,416 Bytes
Sections in this Chapter|Chapters in this Title|All Titles|Legislative Home Page
Last revised: Thursday, May 28, 2009