The Assembly Education Committee heard from Government Relations Director Debra Bradley and Director of Legal Education David Nash on district practices for reporting misconduct committed by students and school personnel, compliance with federal reporting requirements, and public dissemination of this information, as part of a hearing on regarding sexual misconduct in schools. The day’s hearing also included review and passage of legislation, S-414/A-3381 (Pennacchio / Downey), related to requiring school districts, charter schools, nonpublic schools, and contracted service providers to review employment history of prospective employees who will have regular contact with students to ascertain allegations of child abuse or sexual misconduct prior to hiring, as well as legislation related to changes to the current learning standards to incorporate age appropriate instruction on the concept of sexting, A-2189 (Lampitt), consent to physical contact and sexual activity, A-2190 (Lampitt), as well as information on sexual abuse and assault, A-769 (Caputo).
Providing Context
NJPSA Government Relations Director Debra Bradley and Director of Legal Education David Nash started the committee off with an overview of current reporting requirements for school leaders as it relates to sexual misconduct, child abuse and student safety. This was followed by a presentations by a student who was deeply affected by a sexting issues as well as a presentation by representatives from the Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) and Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey (PCANJ).
Employer Review of Prospective Employees
As the committee moved into hearing the day’s bills first up was S-414/A-3381 (Pennacchio / Downey), which requires school districts, charter schools, nonpublic schools, and contracted service providers to review the employment history of prospective employees who will have regular contact with students to ascertain allegations of child abuse or sexual misconduct prior to hiring.
Specifically, the bill prohibits a school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider holding a contract with a school district, nonpublic school, or charter school from employing a person serving in a position which involves regular contact with students unless the school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider conducts a review of the employment history of the applicant by contacting former and current employers and requesting information regarding child abuse and sexual misconduct allegations.
Under the bill, an applicant must provide a list of employers from the prior twenty years that were schools or where the employment involved direct contact with children. The school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider must ask those employers for a statement as to whether the applicant:
- was the subject of any child abuse or sexual misconduct investigation by any employer, State licensing agency, law enforcement agency, or the Department of Children and Families;
- was disciplined, discharged, non-renewed, asked to resign from employment, resigned from or otherwise separated from any employment while allegations of child abuse or sexual misconduct were pending or under investigation, or due to an adjudication or finding of child abuse or sexual misconduct; or
- has ever had a license, professional license or certificate suspended, surrendered, or revoked while allegations of child abuse or sexual misconduct were pending or under investigation, or due to an adjudication or finding of child abuse or sexual misconduct.
The applicant must also provide his own written statement disclosing any of the same matters and provide a written authorization that consents to, and authorizes, disclosure of the information requested by the prospective employer and releases the applicant’s former and current employers from any liability arising from the disclosure.
On or after the effective date of this bill, a school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider may not enter into a collectively bargained or negotiated agreement, an employment contract, an agreement for resignation or termination, a severance agreement, or any other contract or agreement or take any action that:
- has the effect of suppressing or destroying information relating to an investigation related to a report of suspected child abuse or sexual misconduct by a current or former employee;
- affects the ability of the school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider to report suspected child abuse or sexual misconduct to the appropriate authorities; or
- requires the school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider to expunge information about allegations or findings of suspected child abuse or sexual misconduct from any documents maintained by the school district, charter school, nonpublic school, or contracted service provider, unless after investigation the allegations are found to be false or the alleged incident of child abuse or sexual misconduct has not been substantiated.
An applicant who gives false information or willfully fails to disclose information required to be provided under the bill will be subject to discipline, including termination or denial of employment. The applicant also may be deemed in violation of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:28-3, and may be subject to certain civil penalties. The prospective employer is required to provide notification of these possible penalties to prospective employees in the employment application.
The hearing included a robust discussion of balancing student safety against preventing false allegations limiting an employee’s ability to serve as an educational professional. NJPSA worked with fellow stakeholder, NJSBA, to obtain a number of amendments that define what constitutes sexual misconduct and seeks to develop a process under the bill if a former employer has not responded to an inquiry. We will continue to work through additional issues with the bill.
Codifying Changes to NJ Learning Standards As It Relates to Sexual Misconduct & Student Safety
In addition, the committee passed several bills which call for codification of changes to New Jersey’s Learning Standards including:
- A-769 (Caputo) which requires school districts to incorporate age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education in grades preschool through 12 as part of New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education;
- A-2189 (Lampitt) which requires school districts to include instruction on consequences of distributing sexually explicit images through electronic means as part of New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education; and
- A-2190 (Lampitt) which requires school districts to incorporate instruction in grades six through 12 on law and meaning of consent for physical contact and sexual activity as part of Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education.
NJPSA provided the committee an overview of what schools are already doing as it relates to our existing Health & Physical Education standards, incorporation of social & emotional learning competencies and incorporation of positive school climate measures as it relates to individual classrooms, as incorporated into teacher’s professional standards. As the items are already articulated within the existing standards, the Association supported the codification of the requirements.