FILE: GAMCA
INVESTIGATION OF EMPLOYEES ACCUSED OF IMPERMISSIBLE
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OR MORAL OFFENSES INVOLVING STUDENTS
DEFINITIONS
Impermissible corporal punishment is the physical striking of any student by an employee of the Rapides Parish School Board with the intent to discipline or punish the student in a manner other than the approved corporal punishment policy contained in policy JDA, Corporal Punishment. It shall include paddling or striking students with rulers or other physical objects or by hand, but shall not include an employee’s pushing or jostling of a student where no blow is struck.
Moral offenses involving students shall include only incidents wherein an employee of the Rapides Parish School Board:
physically touches a student with the intent to arouse the sexual desire of the student or the employee including but not limited to sexual relations, touching a student’s pubic or breast areas or buttocks;
gives to students or permits students to consume in the presence of the employee any alcoholic beverage (whether of low or high alcoholic content) or drug which is defined as a controlled dangerous substance under the laws of the State of Louisiana or the United States of America;
conspires with or participates directly with any student in an act which is clearly defined as a criminal violation under the laws of the State of Louisiana other than traffic offenses defined in Title 32 of the Revised Statutes of Louisiana.
In determining whether an accusation against an employee is a moral offense involving students, only those employee actions in which students directly participate or are physically and directly involved shall be considered to be within this policy. Employee actions which ultimately affect students, although involving moral issues, but in which the students are not direct and physical participants, do not come within this policy.
INVESTIGATION PROCEDURES
When an allegation under this policy provision comes to the attention of the Superintendent, the following procedure shall be followed:
The person or persons making the accusations against the employee shall submit the accusation in writing, giving the accuser’s name, address and telephone number and stating in said writing the date, time, place, location, name of witnesses if any, and details of the circumstances of the accusations against the employee.
Upon receipt of the written accusations referred to in the foregoing paragraph, the Superintendent shall mail to or give to the accused employee within five (5) working days of its receipt by the Superintendent a copy of the accusation.
The accused employee, within five (5) working days of the date on which the written accusation was mailed or delivered to the employee, shall file a written response to the accusation, stating in detail the employee’s version of the circumstances and offenses made in the accusation and listing in detail any statements in the accusation which are incomplete or untrue.
Upon receipt of the employee’s response to the accusation, the Superintendent may conduct such independent investigation and evaluation of the charges as he or she may deem appropriate; if the Superintendent finds that no credible evidence supports the accusations, all further proceedings against the employee shall be terminated and the charges and response shall be placed in a sealed and confidential file maintained by the Superintendent and no reference to the charges shall be made in the employee’s personnel records except that in the event that additional evidence substantiating the charges comes to the attention of the Superintendent at a later date, further proceedings as described below may be initiated and the original accusation and response utilized therein as hereafter provided.
If the Superintendent determines that some credible evidence supports the allegations against the employee or that it is impossible to determine the merits of the allegations against the employee because of conflicting evidence, then the Superintendent shall appoint an investigative team of three persons to further conduct the investigation. One of the three (3) persons shall be recommended by the accused and shall be an employee of the Rapides Parish School Board or one of the recognized employee organizations. If the employee fails to make a recommendation of an investigative team member within three (3) working days of the Superintendent’s notification to the employee that an investigative team will be formed, then the Superintendent shall make the appointment otherwise reserved to the employee. The Superintendent shall designate a chairperson of the investigative team whose duties shall include scheduling of hearings and presiding over said hearings.
The accusation and the employee’s response and any other investigative materials gathered by the Superintendent or his/her designed shall be furnished to the investigative panel. The employee may request, at the investigative panel level, that the response of the employee to the accusation not be furnished to the accuser(s).
The investigative panel shall conduct an administrative hearing to hear the accusations against the employee. The hearing shall be conducted as soon as practicable following formation of the panel by the Superintendent, preferable within ten (10) working days.
All hearings by the panel shall be conducted with decorum but with informality. The accused employee shall be accorded the presumption of innocence until the panel is provided with evidence convincing the panel members that the accusations are well founded by a preponderance of the evidence. During such hearings the accused employee may be represented by counsel if desired and witnesses heard by the panel may be cross-examined by the accused employee or counsel. The investigative panel members may examine or cross-examine witnesses and the persons bringing the accusations may cross-examine witnesses furnished or called by the accused employee, including the employee. The investigative panel, if necessary, may continue the hearing from time to time, but in all cases shall make every effort to conclude the investigation and hearing promptly and timely.
The investigative panel shall file a written report with the Superintendent within three (3) working days following the conclusion of the panel hearings. The report shall be signed by the panel members and shall set forth the panel’s findings of fact and shall make recommendations for further action by the Superintendent or for dismissal of further proceedings. Two (2) members of the panel shall constitute a majority and any panel member disagreeing with the findings may file a dissenting report.
The Superintendent upon receipt and evaluation of the investigative report, shall take such action as the Superintendent shall deem appropriate under the circumstances consistent with the policies of the Rapides Parish School Board regarding separation of non-tenured employees and the laws of the State of Louisiana in the case of tenured employees. In the event that the panel determines that accusations and allegations are clearly unfounded and without factual or legal support, then the allegations, responses and other materials accumulated during the panel hearing shall be sealed and maintained in a confidential file accessible only to the Superintendent to be opened only in the event of court proceedings or in the event of discovery of additional evidence which clearly supports the original allegations and the resumption of further proceedings against the employee. In this event, however, the accuser’s mere reurging of the original charges without additional witnesses or documentary evidence which persuasively supports the original allegations shall not be a cause for reopening the file.
General Provisions
The accused employee at any stage of the proceedings, including the requirement of filing an initial written employee response to the original allegations, may elect to exercise the employee’s rights not to testify or give evidence on the grounds of self-incrimination. The invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination shall, however, terminate the proceedings herein provided and the Superintendent shall, upon evaluation of the accusations, take such action as he or she may deem appropriate regarding the employee under School Board policies and state law.
The failure of the Superintendent or the panel or the employee to meet any procedural deadline imposed by this policy shall not be cause for dismissal of the proceedings unless said failure is demonstrated to be materially prejudicial to the employee or to the accuser, but every effort to meet the deadlines imposed herein shall be made by all parties so that the accusations against the employee may be concluded in a prompt and fair manner consistent with general due process.
The Superintendent may, in his or her discretion, suspend an employee with pay during the pendency of the proceedings provided in this policy when the Superintendent deems the suspension to be in the best interest of the school system and/or the employee.
In the event that the accusations against the employee result in or arise out of the employee’s arrest by law enforcement authorities on charges arising out of the incident(s) which is the subject of this policy, then the Superintendent may elect to suspend the proceedings under this policy until the criminal charges have either been dismissed or until a trial on the merits of the charges has occurred in the appropriate judicial tribune if the Superintendent, in his or her discretion, determines that the suspension of proceedings under this policy is in the best interest of the employee and/or the administration of the Rapides Parish school system.
If any material of any nature is placed in the employee’s personnel file as a result of the application of this policy, the employee shall have the right to respond as provided by the Personnel Files Act.
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:81.6
Board minutes, 12-6-88, 8-5-93, 07-5-05, 3-07-06
Rapides Parish School Board