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2/27/08
TASPA Update on 2/25/08 meeting on
fingerprinting of contractors
Dear TASPA members,
Thank you for your
responses to the call for feedback and questions regarding the
fingerprinting of contractors to comply with SB 09.
The information
I presented on Monday based on your replies can be found
here. [If you cannot open the link
from this email go to our website at
http://taspa.org/
and there is a link on the home page to a copy of this message] I
received a good number of emails indicating that they were
glad such a meeting was being held, as there is a clear need for
clarification on these issues.
Monday's meeting was a
"data gathering" meeting, where Doug Phillips, Director of
Investigations/Fingerprinting; Andrew Allen, TEA Attorney; and
Joan Howard Allen, TEA Attorney, listened to testimony from
various stakeholders to get a scope of the broad range of
contractors that come on campuses and their duties, as well as to
hear suggested solutions or language for how to define the
variables in question.
Most of the
testimony focused on concerns about how the items listed in the
stakeholder invitation were to be
defined (Who is defined as a contractor? how should
continuing duties be defined? How should direct contact be
defined?), and whom from the various groups would be affected.
One of the attorneys expressed gratitude to TASPA that we did
provide some options and specific language on possible criteria
that can be considered.
Much of the discussion
centered on the difference between folks who are on campus just to
make a delivery and are not at the same school on a regular basis
(e.g., the coke delivery guy vs. the voice coach).
Others asked about what to do with music instrument vendors,
elections officers, business and community partners, and others
who come to a campus but are not what one would traditionally
consider a contractor. Continuing duties vs. stand-alone events
were also discussed (for UIL, each competition is a
stand-alone event and there are NO continuing duties once the
contest is over), as well as the question of how to define a
contract prior to 1/1/2008 (If the same person has provided
services for 10 years, but each "event" is considered a
stand-alone event, is the verbal agreement a new or a continuing
contract?).
In the course of the
meeting SBEC/TEA staff provided clarification on several issues:
-
A comment TASPA
received was that DPS was being slow to give contractors accounts,
and that many contractors do not have a "contract" to attach to
the request, yet they have a verbal agreement or understanding of
the services to be provided. the DPS Representative, Mike
Lesko, indicated that a letter on ISD letterhead stating that
the individual in question is a contractor for that ISD is
sufficient documentation for proceeding with the fingerprinting
process. [your contact person at DPS for this is Donald Farris
at (512) 424-2078
Donald.Farris@txdps.state.tx.us
.]
-
Several questions
involved volunteers at games and other events, as well as working
with students as tutors, etc.
It was made clear that if they
are not being paid at all, then they are volunteers, and they fall
under a different part of SB09 (Sec. 22.0835 of
SB 09, starting on page 13).
-
A question came up
about portability, specifically for contractors that go to
multiple ISDs to provide their services. Given that all
data of those fingerprinted will go into the statewide
clearinghouse, there is portability of results already. All an
ISD has to do is "subscribe" to that person's records for $1 per
person, and the ISD will have access to both the initial results
and to "rapbacks" --The rapback gives ISDs
subscribing to that person's records notification of any
future violations associated with those fingerprints. Multiple
ISDs can subscribe to the same person, and an ISD can unsubscribe
to that record when the person in question no longer works there.
-
Regarding who gets to see
the results of the background check, Sec. 22.0834 (d) of
SB 09,
on pages 11 and 12 it states that the contracting entity
(contractor's direct employer) needs to take care of the
background check, and must certify to the ISD that this has been
done for the individual(s) sent to work at the ISD.
Sec. 22.0834 (e) at the top of page 12 makes it
clear ISDs may obtain the criminal history record of these
individuals through the clearinghouse. It is of course
highly advisable for ISDs to always request to see these results.
-
When asked about a manual or
guide to interpret results, Doug clarified that an ISD can have
more stringent standards that what the law requires
(for example, some ISDs consider a DWI in the distant past to be
acceptable under certain circumstances, others do not), but the
law is clear on the convictions for which the ISD shall discharge
or refuse to hire an individual, which are listed in Sec.
22.085
SB 09,
starting on page 17.
-
Asked about the
exemption for emergency personnel, SBEC staff clarified that
Sec. 22.0834 (f) of
SB 09, on
page 12 specifies that in the event of an emergency,
an ISD may allow a person to enter school district property
to respond to the emergency if the person is accompanied by a
district employee. It was clarified that this is different
from the campus police onsite all the time, or the doctor/sports
therapist on site during all games, etc, who are "standing
by" in case there might be an emergency.
-
It is undoubted that
in the next legislative session this bill will be further tweaked
and cleaned up in light of the insights gained from the first two
years of implementation.
Doug Phillips and
the other SBEC staff were very receptive to hear the concerns and
input brought forth, and they continue to seek input on actual
language and recommendations for 1) who is defined as a contractor,
2) how should continuing duties be defined, and 3) how should direct
contact be defined. The # 1 issue is student safety, but they
also want to make sure to set reasonable and doable parameters.
Please send any further suggestions on how you would like to see the
above three variables defined, along with your rationale for those
guidelines, to SBEC at
sb9@tea.state.tx.us
with "SB09 TEA contractor rule suggested definitions" in the subject
line.
Best,
alex
Dr. Alejandra (Alex)
Martin
Executive Director
TASPA
406 East 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701
Tel (512) 494-9353
Fax (512) 494-9354
amartin@taspa.org
http://taspa.org
People are our most valuable resource!
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