Admin

Management Directive A-10, (Self Reporting)

ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

 

MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVE A-10

GUIDELINES ON SELF-REPORTING OF ARRESTS AND CONVICTIONS BY EMPLOYEES

 

 

  1. The security and safety of our employees, students and guests is of paramount importance.  To this end, all employees shall adhere to the following directives.  All arrests and convictions (with the exception of minor traffic offenses) of all employees shall be self-reported within 48 hours to the district. Such notice shall not be considered an admission of guilt nor shall such notice be admissible for any purpose in any proceeding, civil or criminal, administrative or judicial.  The appropriate authority to self-report arrests and convictions is the Office of Employee Relations.  A phone message can be left 24 hours a day at (407) 317-3239, and the employee must provide a written follow-up statement within five business days of leaving the message.  Failure to self-report may result in discipline, up to and including, dismissal.

     

  2.  Arrests shall include cases in which the employee was taken into custody, as well as charges of criminal misconduct for which the employee was not taken into custody.  Convictions shall include any conviction, finding of guilt, withholding of adjudication, commitment to a pretrial diversion program, or entering of a plea or Nolo Contendere for any criminal offense other than a minor traffic offense.

     

  3. A common definition to allow for a uniform interpretation and reporting of a minor traffic violation shall be defined according to Florida Statute 318.13 (3) as follows:  Infraction means a non-criminal violation that may require community service hours under Section 316.027 (4), but is not punishable by incarceration and for which there is no right to a trial by jury or right to a court-approved counsel.  Criminal traffic violations are not minor and must be reported.

     

  4. An educator is defined as any individual who holds certification and any administrator required to hold a teaching certificate.  School districts are required to file legally sufficient complaints of violations of the Educator’s Code of Conduct with the Department of Education.  The Department of Education may also take action against an educator who fails to report a violation. 

      

  5. When handling sealed and expunged records disclosed under this rule, school districts shall comply with the confidentially provisions of Sections 943.0585 (4) and 943.059 (4), Florida Statutes.

 

 

 

  _________________________

Superintendent

 

  _________________________

Date