SENATE BILL REPORT
E2SSB 5533
As Passed Senate, February 12, 2004
Title: An act relating to providing increased access to information on disciplinary actions taken against school employees.
Brief Description: Providing increased access to information on disciplinary actions taken against school employees.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Senators Kohl-Welles, Johnson, McAuliffe, Carlson, Keiser, Rasmussen and Kline).
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Education: 2/18/03, 3/5/03 [DPS]; 1/20/04, 2/3/04 [DP2S].
Passed Senate: 2/12/04, 48-0.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Majority Report: That Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 5533 be substituted therefor, and the second substitute bill do pass.
Signed by Senators Johnson, Chair; Finkbeiner, Vice Chair; Carlson, Eide, McAuliffe, Pflug, Rasmussen and Schmidt.
Staff: Heather Lewis-Lechner (786-7448)
Background: Under current law, a school district must perform a fingerprint-record check when hiring a staff person who will have regularly scheduled unsupervised access to children. All classroom teachers must have a fingerprint record check when they apply for their teaching certificate.
Under the Public Disclosure Act, public records maintained by an agency concerning its own employees are available for public inspection unless a specific provision of the law exempts the record from disclosure. The act applies to personnel files held by school districts and permits a hiring school district to request records from another school district that was the prior employer of an applicant. The act does not require one school district to request any records. The act contains an extensive list of statutory exemptions to disclosure that includes an exemption for personal information of public employees to the extent that disclosure would violate that employee's "right to privacy" and an exemption for the residential addresses and phone numbers of the employee.
A person's "right to privacy" is violated only if disclosure of the information about the person (1) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (2) is not a legitimate concern to the public.
Summary of Bill: Certificated and classified school district employees who apply to another school district must sign a release authorizing the disclosure of any sexual misconduct information, including any related documents in their personnel files. Hiring school districts must request from all of the applicant's previous school district employers any information about that employee's sexual misconduct including related documents. The information must be provided within 20 days of receiving the request.
School districts that provide the required information are provided immunity when the information is provided in good faith. Sexual misconduct information is only used to evaluate the applicant's qualifications for the position for which he or she has applied and the information is not disclosed to anyone not directly involved in the evaluation process. A person who wrongfully discloses information is guilty of a misdemeanor.
School districts that are considering applicants for certificated positions must request verification of the applicant's certification status and sexual misconduct information in the applicant's files from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
Applicants may be employed on a conditional basis pending review of any sexual misconduct information. School districts must not hire an applicant who refuses to sign the release.
Starting on September 1, 2004, school districts are prohibited from entering into employment contracts or severance agreements which call for sealing records of verbal or physical abuse or sexual misconduct. This prohibition does not apply to existing contracts or agreements.
School personnel are allowed to review their personnel files relating to sexual misconduct and attach rebuttals as the employee deems necessary. These rebuttal documents must also be disclosed.
The State Board of Education defines "verbal abuse," "physical abuse" and "sexual misconduct" for application to both classified and certificated employees for purposes of this bill. The definition adopted by the board must include a requirement that the school district make a determination that there is sufficient information to conclude that the abuse or misconduct occurred and that the employee is leaving due to that misconduct.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: There are loopholes in current law that allow students to continue to be victimized. While it is recognized by everyone that the majority of our teachers are dedicated to providing our state's children with a safe learning environment, there are a select few that take advantage of the trust and confidence given them and abuse our children. These few must be sent a strong message that they cannot hide and continue to prey. This bill is about protecting our children and the intent is to only deal with those situations where there is documented guilt not just mere allegations or accusations. These cases are not only detrimentally impacting Washington's children they are also costing our taxpayers money and wasting state resources since many of the cases are settled for large amounts. This bill will give schools the tools they need to learn what they need to know about the people they are hiring in order to keep our children safe while also protecting them from liability. This bill also deals with a major problem of schools agreeing to seal a record in order to get rid of a problematic employee. This is information parents have a right to know. Students need to know that they are safe and parents need to be able to trust the system to protect their children. We must figure out how to both prevent this abuse and intervene. A code of conduct task force has been formed by OSPI to deal with this issue and to advise Superintendent Bergeson on how best to fix rules and regulations. OSPI supports increased sharing of information on proven sexual misconduct and expanding reporting requirements. This bill was worked on extensively last session and input from many interested parties was taken. The version that is before the committee this year is a tool that will work and will help protect kids.
Testimony Against: There are legitimate times when a record should be able to be expunged from an employee's file that should be considered. We need to make sure there are protections for those employees who are unfairly accused. In the past there have been problems with employees who have been accused and then the charges were deemed unfounded but the schools refused to ever officially say the employee was "not guilty" and so the employee's life is forever affected.
Testified: PRO: Senator Kohl-Welles, prime sponsor; Senator Benton, sponsor; Abby Rice, citizen; Ed and Dianne Lundberg, citizens; Roland Thompson, Allied Daily Newspapers of WA; Michele L. Earl-Hubbard, citizen; Larry Davis, SBE; PRO W/CONCERNS: Barbara Mertens, WASA; Greg Williamson, OSPI; Dan Steele, WSSDA; David Westberg, Stationary Engineers; Concerns: Lucinda Young, WEA; Ed Triezenberg, Carpenters Union.
Signed In/Did Not Testify: PRO W/CONCERNS: Randy Hathaway, WA School Personnel Assoc.
House Amendment(s): The types of files a school employee may review is expanded to include not only his or her personnel file but also investigative files or other files relating to sexual misconduct and clarification is added that the right to review files occurs at the completion of an investigation.
If there has been a report of sexual misconduct, the school district must notify the parents of the student who is the victim of that misconduct within 48 hours of receiving the report.