SUSPENDED FORM

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Nature Immersion‎ Journeys‎ Upper School‎

Background Checks

As per Florida Department of Education statute (http://www.fldoe.org/teaching/professional-practices/background-screening-requirements.stml), fingerprinting and background checks are a requirement for any instructional staff seeking to work with students at Verdi EcoSchool. Previously, we’ve been very strict about the background checks of our staff. We’ve not allowed anyone to become a member of staff if they’ve had any previous infractions on their background check, no matter how minor. Now, we’ve recognized that we’re turning away people who are really talented educators, but they might have made a mistake in the past. The FLDOE automatically disqualifies individuals convicted of certain crimes from becoming educators but other, lesser crimes are left to the hiring discretion of the individual school. We need your vote to decide if we will utilize the same hiring standard as presented by the FLDOE and adopted by our local public schools or if our community would like to adopt a more restrictive set of hiring policies in relation to criminal offenses. Please keep in mind when voting: This policy would affect new, incoming staff as well as parent volunteers seeking to volunteer in the classroom or during activities where they might have direct contact with our students. Example: If a staff member cannot have a DUI and work with our students, then a parent cannot have a DUI and volunteer in the classroom. Please cast your vote for one of the below options:

I would like to adopt the same hiring standards as our local public schools as presented by the FLDOE. I don't want to consider hiring individuals with any criminal record whatsoever. I would like to adopt the same hiring standards as our local public schools as presented by the FLDOE but with the following conditions:

(Please share additional conditions here)