AP 407: Vulnerable Sector and Criminal Record Verification
Personnel & Employment
Background:
The Superintendent ensures that Parkland School Division staff comply with all federal and provincial legislation regarding the safety of students and the protection of human rights. An effective process for reviewing vulnerable sector and criminal record verification promotes confidence for parents, and ensures accountability prior to, and during employment, for all staff members within the Division.
The Professional Conduct and Competency for Teachers and Teacher Leaders Regulation (124/2022) provides a Code of Professional Conduct for teachers and teacher leaders. Schedule 1 of the Regulation lists the prescribed offenses for the purposes of the Education Act and the Regulation.
AP 407: Vulnerable Sector and Criminal Record Verification provides the procedures necessary for ensuring ongoing adherence to the Act and Regulation.
Definitions:
a) Criminal Conviction: shall refer to any conviction related to the prescribed offenses under the Criminal Code of Canada as defined in Schedule 1 of the Professional Conduct and Competency for Teachers and Teacher Leaders Regulation (AR 124/2022).
b) Employee: shall refer to any permanent, part-time or temporary employee currently on contract with Parkland School Division.
c) Police Information Check (or Criminal Record Check): shall refer to a completed RCMP verification of an individual’s potential record of criminality, as substantive, through the RCMP’s Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) system, based on a person’s name and date of birth. A criminal record check may include a search of other national and local databases.
d) Prospective Employee: shall refer to a person who is offered employment prior to signing a contract for employment.
e) Record Verification: shall, for the purposes of this Administrative Procedure, refer to a process of ensuring that an employee has successfully cleared the burden of criminal record and/or vulnerable sector check verification as required by their position of employment.
f) Vulnerable Sector Check: shall refer to an enhanced criminal record check. This type of record check is governed by section 6.3(3) of the Criminal Records Act.
Record Verification Procedures:
1. The Superintendent or designate shall establish that an employment position has a bona fide occupational requirement for a record verification.
1.1. As per the Supreme Court of Canada, the occupational requirement for record verification shall follow a prescribed, three-step process:
1.1.1. That the record verification serves for a purpose or goal that is rationally connected to the performance of tasks required by the position;
1.1.2. That the record verification exists according to a necessity to fulfill a legitimate, work-related purpose; and
1.1.3. That the record verification is reasonably necessary to accomplish the work-related purpose.
2. Each employee and/or prospective employee shall ensure that the Division has a valid record check on file.
3. Teachers and other staff, as determined by the Deputy Superintendent or designate, and who work directly with children, shall provide a record verification that includes clearance for working within a vulnerable sector.
3.1. The Deputy Superintendent, or designate, reserves the right to indicate which educational occupations require vulnerable sector verification; either at the time of employment or with appropriate notification during employment;
3.2. With respect to ensuring the accuracy and validity of records, employees (as per. s. 3) shall provide a record verification within a five (5) year anniversary period from either:
3.2.1. The initial date of employment; or
3.2.2. The date of the employee’s previous verification;
3.3. The Division shall cover those costs that are specifically associated with obtaining the record verification for existing employees.
3.4. For clarity, five (5) years shall exist as the maximum amount of time between a record verification.
4. Notwithstanding the five (5) year renewal, prospective employees shall be required to provide, at their own cost, a record verification at a point of time immediately preceding the Division’s provision of the employee’s initial contract:
4.1. The Superintendent, or designate, may determine that employment can be initiated without a record verification, with specific respect to any procedural delay that exists, and is determined as reasonably beyond the capability of the employee, or prospective employee’s responsibility to acquire verification;
4.1.1. Record verification, if delayed, shall be acquired as soon as logistically possible.
5. The Superintendent or designate shall terminate a contract of employment if an employee fails to provide a record verification within the time provided.
6. The Superintendent or designate may terminate a contract of employment if the content of the record verification is deemed to be incompatible with any requirement of employment; notably:
6.1. The nature and time of convictions and/or charges revealed through a record verification shall be considered relative to the date of the verification and the individual’s current responsibilities; and
6.2. In the event that a record verification is not satisfactory for the conditions of employment, the Superintendent or designate shall discuss the matter with the employee, with the employee’s union or association, and, if required, Division legal counsel.
7. Any employee who attempts to withhold or falsify material pertaining to any previous convictions shall be terminated with cause for non-disclosure and/or falsification of their record verification.
7.1. The employee or prospective employee shall be responsible for any personal legal expenditures related to any matter arising from challenges to the record verification.
Security:
8. The collection and use of personal information, related to record verification, shall be for the stated purpose of determining the suitability of an individual to work within the Division, and shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Access to Information Act (ATIA) of Alberta.
9. All employment records and subsequent record verifications shall be securely stored by Parkland School Division’s Human Resources.
Approved:
