Butte School District

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

5122P

Federal Background Check Fingerprints and Information Handling Procedure

Butte School District has the authority to conduct federal background checks for applicants having unsupervised access to the vulnerable populations. All individuals 18 years of age or older to be volunteers or recommended for hire by the School District need to be fingerprinted under the National Child Protection Act and Volunteers for Children’s Act (NCPA/VCA).

Teachers licensed by the Office of Public Instruction in the State of Montana are required to submit fingerprints for a criminal background check as a requirement of the initial licensing process. If teachers recommended for employment have been licensed in the State of Montana within the previous two years, no further criminal background check is required.

The School District will obtain a signed waiver from all applicants (5122F-3) and provide written communication of Applicant Rights and Consent to Fingerprint Form at 5122F-1. Applicants shall also be provided the Applicant Privacy Statement at 5122F-5. District procedures for challenging criminal history record information are also covered at this time with the applicant. The Applicant Rights and Consent to Fingerprint Form will be kept on file for 5 years or for the length of employment, whichever is longer. The form will be filed in the employee’s Personnel File.

The recommended applicant will complete a Declaration Form (5122-F-2), which will be stored in a secure location and only those that have completed the Privacy and Security Training will have access.

Basis to Collect and Submit Fingerprints for Purposes of Federal Background Check

The applicant will select one of two ways to be fingerprinted:

After making an appointment, visit the Montana Department of Justice – Criminal Records and Identification Services Section to be have fingerprints scanned.
After making an appointment, meet a retired Special Deputy of the Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department at the Butte School District Administration Building to capture ink fingerprints. Two ink fingerprint cards are captured for each applicant and all data fields are completed and checked for accuracy. Complete fingerprint cards are then mailed to DOJ/CRISS along with payment. A spreadsheet of those fingerprinted is kept by the School District to identify the individual, position being hired for, date of fingerprints, date print received and date print billed. School District staff that process the fingerprints and send them to the DOJ have received training by CRISS.

All applicants must provide a current government issued photo identification at the time of fingerprinting for identification verification.

LASO

The Assistant to the Human Resource Director has been appointed as the Local Agency Security Officer and acts as the primary point of contact between the School District and CRISS. The Assistant to the Human Resource Director is responsible for ensuring CJIS Policy compliance by all authorized recipients within the School District LASO is also responsible of any Privacy and Security Agreements with those who do not use CRI on a regular basis. Any change in appointment of the LASO or other authorized personnel will be reported to CRISS immediately.

Access of CHRI

All background results are received by the Assistant to the Human Resource Director through the State File Transfer Service. Results are printed and stored in a locked filing cabinet in the human resource office until a determination for employment is made. Only authorized personnel that have undergone Privacy and Security Information Training have access to printed criminal history record information. Authorized recipients of CHRI include the Superintendent, Human Resource Director, Assistant to the Human Resource Director and the District Receptionist.

Determination Procedures

Printed background checks are reviewed by the Assistant to the Human Resource Director and a Determination Form (5122F-4) is completed. If any adverse results are present on the background check, it is given to the Superintendent, and Human Resource Director for final determination of eligibility. Only authorized personnel are present during the determination process when the criminal record is being reviewed.

Upon receipt of a background check report lacking disposition data, the Human Resource Director will attempt to obtain information regarding the disposition of the charge(s) and make a determination whether the provider has been convicted of, or is under pending indictment for a crime that bears upon the applicant’s fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children.

Conviction, including conviction following a plea of nolo contendere, a conviction in which the sentence is suspended or deferred, or any other adjudication treated by the court as a conviction, may be considered by the District as grounds for denying employment or removal from a position in the District.

No applicant will be denied employment based on the criminal background check without being informed and being allowed to inspect the criminal background report. The applicant who is the subject of a criminal background check is entitled to:

obtain a copy of any background check report; and
challenge the accuracy and completeness of any information contained in any such report and obtain a prompt determination as to the validity of such challenge before a final determination is made by the District.

Once the fingerprint search results are received, Human Resources will complete a Determination Form (5122 F-4), and the Department of Justice results will be shredded. The Determination will be recorded on the Determination Log (5122F-7) and the Determination Form will be stored in a secure location for 8 years past term of employment. Determination Forms will then be shredded.

Dissemination Procedure:

Applicants wishing to obtain a copy of their background report may make a request to the LASO. A current government photo identification must be presented at the time of the request. A copy of the background report is made and marked as a “copy” and provided to the applicant. The dissemination is then logged in 5122F-6. Dissemination logs include, what record was shared, the date it was shared, the method of sharing, and the agency personnel that shared the record. The dissemination log is stored in a locked filing cabinet for at least 3 years or between audits, whichever is longer.

The District may accept the determination of a comparable background check conducted for a university system or a private college or a school district provided the background check was completed no more than two years before recommended employment. A comparable background check means a name based and fingerprint based state and national criminal background check.

A determination submitted to the Butte Public Schools must be accompanied by a written verification that the record is a true and correct in the records of that agency. This verification must be made by the custodian of records for that agency.

Any employee or applicant requesting the Butte Public Schools to provide the employee or applicant with a Notice of Federal Background Check Determination (5122F-8) of their determination to other agencies, will be required to complete the written authorization portion of this form for the District to send.

Any disseminations made will be logged and maintained by the Butte School District for a minimum of 3 years. Dissemination logs will then be shredded.

The District retains the right to refuse to disseminate criminal background checks to another individual or agency at its sole discretion.

Retention and Storage Procedures

All Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) will be stored in a physically secure location with access available only to authorized personnel.

Printed background checks are stored until a final determination for employment has been made, two weeks or less. The Butte School District then utilizes the Determination Form (5122F-4) and the CHRI is then shredded.

Dissemination Logs are maintained for a period of 3 years from the date of dissemination or between audits, and the Applicant Rights and Consent to Fingerprint Form is maintained for at least five years or the length of employment, whichever is longer.

Destruction Procedure

At the end of the retention and storage period outlined in this document, all CHRI and related information is shredded in house by the Assistant to the HR Director.

Applicant Procedures for Challenging or Correcting their Record

All applicants are given the opportunity to challenge or complete their record before a final determination is made. After completing 5122F-9, applicants wishing to challenge their record are given a copy of the background report.

The applicant is then given 10 days to contact the state or agency in which the record was created to make corrections. After the allotted time, the applicant must then provide the Butte School District with a copy of the corrected background report provided by and notarized by the State Identification Bureau. The fee associated for a copy of the state record provided by the State Identification Bureau will be the responsibility of the applicant.

Policy and Procedures for Misuse of CHRI

The Butte School District does not allow dissemination of CHRI to persons or agencies that are not directly involved in the hiring and determination process. If CHRI is disseminated outside of the authorized receiving department, the Assistant to the Human Resource Director will report this to CRISS immediately and provide CRISS with an incident response form (5122F-10). The incident response form will include the nature of the incident, any internal reprimands that may have resulted from the incident, as well as our agencies plan to ensure that this incident does not get repeated.

Training Procedure

Local Agency Security Officer (LASO)
- Signed User Agreement between District and CRISS
Privacy and Security Training
All authorized personnel will undergo Privacy and Security Training prior to access to Criminal History Record Information and every two years thereafter.

Procedure History:

Adopted on: 01/19/2010
Revised on:09/18/2017, 12/18/2017, 11/15/2021