To more adequately safeguard students and staff members, the Board of Education requires an inquiry into the background of each applicant the Superintendent recommends for employment with the District including certified staff and non-certified positions and excluding school bus drivers. All employees of firms or persons who hold contracts with the School District and who have direct, daily contact with students of any school within the District must also comply with these requirements.

Such an inquiry shall also be made for substitutes or part-time staff who may be employed by the District. For such staff, the Superintendent may rely on certification from the regional superintendent that a report has been received from the State Police and that the individual has no criminal history.

The Superintendent shall establish the necessary procedures for obtaining from the Criminal Records Division of the State Police any criminal history on the applicant maintained by the State Police. The fee for the criminal history record check will be paid for by the District. The guidelines will ensure that, at the time of the initial application, the applicant is adequately informed of the criminal history record check requirement.

Following receipt of the outcome of the State Police Criminal History Record Check, an applicant may be required to submit, at District expense, a set of fingerprints prepared by a State or local law enforcement agency as part of his/her employment application.

Should it be necessary to employ a person in order to maintain continuity of the program prior to receipt of the criminal history record check results, the Superintendent may employ the person on a provisional basis until the report is received. The District will not knowingly employ a person for whom a criminal history record check has not been initiated.

All information and records obtained from such inquiries are to be considered confidential and shall not be released or disseminated to anyone other than the Superintendent or his/her designee, the Board President, regional superintendent or any person who necessarily must know for the purpose of making the decision regarding hiring the applicant or, for clarification purposes, the Department of State Police or Statewide Sex Offender Database, or both. Additionally, the District may confirm to another district or the regional superintendent that a potential substitute does not have a criminal history, pursuant to a report received from the State Police. Violation of confidentiality is a Class A misdemeanor.

105 ILCS 5/10-21.9

Revised 3/14/05
Revised 12/20/10