HB1704: Arrests, certain, and convictions of certain individuals; reports to division safety officials.

Legislative Summary

Public elementary and secondary schools; reports of certain arrests and convictions; receipt, report, and compilation. Requires each division superintendent to annually designate an employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive all reports required to be made pursuant to relevant law from (i) every state official or agency and every sheriff, police officer, or other local law-enforcement officer or conservator of the peace having the power to arrest for a felony upon arresting a person who is known or discovered by the arresting official to be a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary teacher or any other employee in such local school division for a felony or a Class 1 misdemeanor or an equivalent offense in another state and (ii) the clerk of any circuit court or any district court in the Commonwealth upon the felony conviction of any person known by such clerk to be employed by such local school division. Public elementary and secondary schools; reports of certain arrests and convictions; receipt, report, and compilation. Requires each division superintendent to annually designate an employee in the local school division as the division safety official whose duty is to receive all reports required to be made pursuant to relevant law from (i) every state official or agency and every sheriff, police officer, or other local law-enforcement officer or conservator of the peace having the power to arrest for a felony upon arresting a person who is known or discovered by the arresting official to be a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary teacher or any other employee in such local school division for a felony or a Class 1 misdemeanor or an equivalent offense in another state and (ii) the clerk of any circuit court or any district court in the Commonwealth upon the felony conviction of any person known by such clerk to be employed by such local school division. The bill requires each division superintendent to include such division safety official designation in the collated packet of school safety audits submitted to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety pursuant to relevant law and requires the Center to designate an employee of the Center as the school personnel safety official for the Commonwealth whose duty is to compile, maintain, and make publicly available a list of each such division safety official. The bill requires such designation to include updated contact information for the division safety official and requires such safety official to at least annually confirm with each division superintendent that such contact information is up to date and accurate. The bill also provides that a probation and parole officer who is supervising a person employed by a local school division in the Commonwealth shall, upon discovering that such supervised person has been arrested or convicted of a felony offense or an equivalent offense in another state, report such arrest or conviction to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the designated division safety official in the local school division where such supervised person is employed as soon as practicable. The bill requires any such report to be transmitted via certified mail to the mailing address identified by the division superintendent or via fax and email to the fax number and email address identified by the division superintendent, pursuant to the applicable provisions of the bill. Finally, the bill requires, until July 1, 2027, that all such arresting officials or agencies request in writing that the Virginia Employment Commission provide the name of the current employer of each arrested person for purposes of determining whether such notice is required.