2006 Code of Virginia § 22.1-296.3 - Certain private school employees subject to fingerprinting and criminal records checks

22.1-296.3. Certain private school employees subject to fingerprinting andcriminal records checks.

A. As a condition of employment, the governing boards or administrators ofprivate or religious elementary or secondary schools which are accredited bya statewide accrediting organization recognized, prior to January 1, 1996, bythe State Board of Education shall require any applicant who acceptsemployment for the first time after July 1, 1998, whether full-time orpart-time, permanent or temporary, to submit to fingerprinting and to providepersonal descriptive information to be forwarded along with the applicant'sfingerprints through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the FederalBureau of Investigation for the purpose of obtaining criminal history recordinformation regarding such applicant.

The Central Criminal Records Exchange, upon receipt of an applicant's recordor notification that no record exists, shall report to the governing board oradministrator, or to a private organization coordinating such records onbehalf of such governing board or administrator pursuant to a writtenagreement with the Department of State Police, that the applicant meets thecriteria or does not meet the criteria for employment based on whether or notthe applicant has ever been convicted of the following crimes or theirequivalent if from another jurisdiction: any offense set forth in 63.2-1719or 63.2-1726, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony as set out in 18.2-53.1, or an equivalent offense in another state.

B. The Central Criminal Records Exchange shall not disclose information tosuch governing board, administrator, or private organization coordinatingsuch records regarding charges or convictions of any crimes. If any applicantis denied employment because of information appearing on the criminal historyrecord and the applicant disputes the information upon which the denial wasbased, the Central Criminal Records Exchange shall, upon request, furnish theapplicant the procedures for obtaining a copy of the criminal history recordfrom the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The information provided to thegoverning board, administrator, or private organization coordinating suchrecords shall not be disseminated except as provided in this section. Agoverning board or administrator employing or previously employing atemporary teacher or a private organization coordinating such records onbehalf of such governing board or administrator pursuant to a writtenagreement with the Department of State Police may disseminate, at the writtenrequest of such temporary teacher, whether such teacher meets the criteria ordoes not meet the criteria for employment pursuant to subsection A to thegoverning board or administrator of another accredited private or religiouselementary or secondary school in which such teacher has accepted employment.Such governing board, administrator, or private organization transferringcriminal records information pursuant to this section shall be immune fromcivil liability for any official act, decision or omission done or made inthe performance of such transfer, when such acts or omissions are taken ingood faith and are not the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct.

In addition to the fees assessed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, theDepartment of State Police may assess a fee for responding to requestsrequired by this section which shall not exceed $15 per request for acriminal records check.

For purposes of this section, "governing board" or "administrator" meansthe unit or board or person designated to supervise operations of a system ofprivate or religious schools or a private or religious school accredited by astatewide accrediting organization recognized, prior to January 1, 1996, bythe State Board of Education.

Nothing in this section or 19.2-389 shall be construed to require anyprivate or religious school which is not so accredited to comply with thissection.

(1996, c. 944; 1998, c. 113; 2002, c. 528; 2005, c. 928.)