New Hiring Policy

Dear Families
In light of recent news, we want to communicate with you directly regarding the hiring policies at our school, both those we implement on our own as a public charter school, and those required of the school district prior to the school hiring someone.
1. During the initial school site screening process, we first review an application and resume submitted by the applicant. During this review, we determine whether a candidate meets our qualifications for employment. Qualified candidates are then invited to be interviewed by a team of 3 to 5 leaders and teachers at our school. Following the interview process, if we choose to proceed with hiring a candidate, we MUST follow the next step.
2. Our school is required to submit the names of any candidates for employment to the school district to conduct Level 2 background screening comprised of fingerprinting and a drug test. As a public charter school, we cannot make the decision to hire any employee without first having them cleared by the school district. It is the responsibility of the District to conduct a background check and drug screening for any potential employee. Historically, the school district has provided our school with confirmation to state only that a candidate is cleared or not cleared through the background screening process. When, and if, the school district provides us with the required clearance for a candidate, we are then able to proceed with the hiring process.

On November 18th, 2024, the school district advised us of changes to their background screening procedures. The new policy now includes advising the school of the clearance status of the candidate, in addition to providing information regarding whether a candidate has a criminal record. If the candidate does have a criminal record, the school will now be made aware of details of these records. This is a new district policy which has just taken effect. This is a policy the district has control over. We want to reiterate that prior to last week’s update, we did not receive any information about arrest/criminal records of applicants. We are happy the district updated this procedure to include that very important information.

We want to reassure you that we do everything in our power to hire individuals that uphold the high standards we expect of our employees. We expect to have individuals on our campus who are respectful and of high moral and character values. To this end, we have spent this past week reviewing employee files.

Thank you for your support during this time. Please know, the safety of our students is always the first thought in our minds. We are here for you, as always.

Thank you