Policies/SchoolONE Policy § 1.3.02. Student Contact and Background Screening

Article III. SchoolONE Private School Policies

SchoolONE Policy § 1.3.02. Student Contact and Background Screening.

(a) Purpose.

(1) SchoolONE is committed to student safety in all instructional settings, including in-person instruction, distance learning, tutoring, advising, mentoring, assessment, and other student-facing services.

(2) This policy establishes when fingerprinting, criminal-background screening, or other child-safety screening is required for employees, contractors, vendors, instructors, tutors, volunteers, and other adults who may have contact with students.

(b) General Rule.

(1) SchoolONE distinguishes between:

(A) in-person contact with students; and

(B) remote contact through distance-learning systems.

(2) In-person contact presents a different safeguarding risk than remote instructional contact.

(3) SchoolONE therefore requires formal criminal-background screening for in-person student contact, while applying separate online-safety controls for remote distance-learning contact.

(c) In-Person Contact With a California Student.

(1) Any employee, contractor, instructor, tutor, vendor, volunteer, or other adult who will have in-person contact with a California student shall complete the background-check process required by California Education Code section 44237, where applicable.

(2) This includes California Department of Justice and FBI fingerprint-based criminal-record review before the person begins in-person student contact.

(3) No person may have unsupervised in-person contact with a California student until SchoolONE has confirmed that all required California background-check requirements have been satisfied.

(d) In-Person Contact With a Student in the United States Outside California.

(1) Any employee, contractor, instructor, tutor, vendor, volunteer, or other adult who will have in-person contact with a student located in the United States, but outside California, shall complete a full criminal-background screening before beginning in-person student contact.

(2) SchoolONE may require one or more of the following, depending on the person’s location, role, and applicable law:

(A) federal criminal-background screening;

(B) state criminal-background screening in the state where the person will have in-person student contact;

(C) Department of Justice or equivalent law-enforcement background screening, where available;

(D) FBI or national criminal-history screening, where available;

(E) sex-offender registry screening;

(F) child-abuse or child-neglect registry screening, where available;

(G) identity verification;

(H) reference checks; and

(I) any additional screening required by law, contract, accreditation standard, or SchoolONE determination.

(3) SchoolONE may accept an equivalent legally authorized background-check process when California DOJ fingerprinting is not the applicable or available mechanism for the in-person contact.

(e) In-Person Contact With a Student Outside the United States.

(1) Any employee, contractor, instructor, tutor, vendor, volunteer, or other adult who will have in-person contact with a student outside the United States shall complete the most appropriate child-safety screening reasonably available in the country where the contact will occur.

(2) SchoolONE shall make a good-faith effort to screen such individuals, which may include:

(A) identity verification;

(B) local police clearance;

(C) national criminal-record clearance, where available;

(D) child-protection registry check, where available;

(E) reference checks;

(F) prior-employer or prior-school checks;

(G) verification of qualifications or experience;

(H) written child-safety certifications;

(I) contract terms requiring compliance with SchoolONE safeguarding rules; and

(J) immediate disclosure of any arrest, charge, conviction, safeguarding complaint, professional discipline, or child-safety concern.

(3) SchoolONE recognizes that government background-check infrastructure varies significantly by country.

(4) Where a foreign government does not provide a reliable, accessible, or comparable criminal-background system, SchoolONE shall document the screening efforts made and the limitations encountered.

(5) SchoolONE is not responsible for the absence, incompleteness, unreliability, or inaccessibility of foreign government background-check infrastructure, but it remains responsible for making reasonable child-safety screening efforts and enforcing this policy.

(f) Remote Contact for Distance Learning.

(1) Remote contact with students through distance-learning platforms does not, by itself, require fingerprinting, DOJ background checks, or criminal-background checks under this policy.

(2) This rule applies regardless of whether the student is located in California, elsewhere in the United States, or outside the United States, unless a specific law, contract, program rule, accreditation standard, or SchoolONE determination requires a background check for the particular role.

(3) Although remote contact does not itself require a criminal-background check, student online safety remains paramount.

(4) All adults providing remote instruction, tutoring, advising, mentoring, assessment, or support shall comply with SchoolONE’s online-safety requirements.

(g) Online-Safety Requirements for Remote Contact.

(1) Adults who have remote contact with students shall:

(A) use only SchoolONE-approved communication systems;

(B) avoid private, secret, or unauthorized communication channels with students;

(C) avoid one-on-one communications outside approved SchoolONE systems;

(D) keep instructional communications professional, observable, and school-related;

(E) comply with all SchoolONE rules on recording, monitoring, and documentation of online sessions;

(F) maintain appropriate adult-student boundaries;

(G) avoid requesting or sharing personal contact information except as authorized by SchoolONE;

(H) avoid meeting students in person unless separately approved under the in-person-contact sections of this policy;

(I) report any student-safety concern immediately to SchoolONE administration;

(J) complete required safeguarding and online-safety training; and

(K) comply with all SchoolONE policies regarding student privacy, technology use, harassment, discrimination, abuse prevention, and professional conduct.

(2) SchoolONE may restrict, suspend, or terminate remote access for any adult whose conduct creates a student-safety concern, even if a criminal-background check is not required.

(h) Change From Remote to In-Person Contact.

(1) A person approved for remote contact only may not have in-person contact with any student unless SchoolONE first determines which background-check requirements apply under this policy.

(2) Before any in-person contact occurs, SchoolONE shall determine whether the student is located:

(A) in California;

(B) in another U.S. state or territory; or

(C) outside the United States.

(3) The applicable in-person screening requirement shall be completed before the contact occurs.

(i) Documentation.

(1) SchoolONE shall document the screening category applied to each covered person, including:

(A) the person’s role;

(B) whether contact is remote or in person;

(C) the student location category, if in-person contact is involved;

(D) the screening completed;

(E) any limits on the person’s approved contact with students;

(F) any foreign-screening limitations encountered; and

(G) the administrator approving the person for student contact.

(j) No Avoidance.

(1) This policy may not be used to avoid a legally required background check.

(2) If a person’s role changes, if in-person contact is added, if a new legal requirement applies, or if SchoolONE determines that additional screening is necessary for student safety, SchoolONE may require additional screening before the person continues in the role.

(k) Legal Basis.

(1) California Education Code section 44237 requires covered private-school applicants for employment in positions requiring contact with minor pupils to complete California DOJ/FBI fingerprint review.

(2) SchoolONE applies section 44237 to in-person contact with California students where the statute applies.

(3) California laws are generally interpreted with territorial limits and are not presumed to regulate conduct, work, or student contact occurring outside California unless the statute clearly says so or the facts establish a sufficient California connection.

(4) SchoolONE therefore applies separate screening standards for out-of-state, foreign, and remote student contact consistent with this policy. See Ward v. United Airlines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 732 (2020); Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 762 (2020); Tidewater Marine Western, Inc. v. Bradshaw, 14 Cal.4th 557 (1996).

(5) Nothing in this policy is intended to avoid a legally required background check.

(6) SchoolONE may require additional screening whenever required by law, contract, accreditation standard, student-safety concern, or SchoolONE determination.

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References

California Education Code section 44237.

Ward v. United Airlines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 732 (2020).

Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 762 (2020).

Tidewater Marine Western, Inc. v. Bradshaw, 14 Cal.4th 557 (1996).