Faith's Law: ISBE Templates Available
Faith’s Law and the trailer bill to Faith’s Law institute several new requirements for districts, several of which become effective July 1, 2023:
Required ISBE Template Forms:
105 ILCS 5/22-94 required ISBE to create form templates to be used by school districts when conducting an employment history review. General information provided by ISBE concerning misconduct by licensed educators can be reviewed at: https://www.isbe.net/educatorquality. The ISBE created templates can be downloaded here:
- Sexual Misconduct Disclosure Template for an Applicant
- Authorization for Release of Sexual Misconduct-Related Information
While these templates can be modified as needed, it is important that any form developed for use include the minimum information required by statute as contained in the templates.
Other Compliance with Faith’s Law:
- Handbook Review:
- Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, your district must annually notify parents of ISBE’s Resource Guide (which should be available by July 1, 2023).
- Erin’s Law required school districts, by July 1, 2022, to adopt and implement a policy that addresses the sexual abuse of children and required certain items to be included in student handbooks.
- Website Compliance:
- The Resource Guide must also be made available to Parents, upon request, or made available on your district’s website.
- 105 ILCS 5/22-85.10 additionally requires districts to create a procedure to provide parental/guardian notice for any alleged act of sexual misconduct between an educator and student.
- School districts must also post a copy of the district’s Employee Code of Professional Conduct Policy on their website.
- Personnel Records: The Personnel Record Review Act is amended to permit the disclosure of employee discipline more than four (4) years old when the discipline is related to an incident or attempted incident of sexual misconduct, as defined by 105 ILCS 5/22-85.5.
- Training: Educators must be trained on sexual abuse, the employee code of professional conduct, and state and federal reporting requirements.
Employment History Review Process
The portion of the bill that requires your district to complete an employment history review is extensive and there are some requirements of which your district should be aware:
- Your district must complete an employment history review for all positions, permanent or temporary in your district. Your district must also conduct an employment history review for any contractor who will have direct contact with children or students. This may include, but is not limited to: food service workers, school bus drivers, and other transportation employees. Don’t forget about coaches not otherwise employed by the district.
- Before you can hire an applicant, your district must ensure:
- You have no knowledge or information pertaining to the applicant that would disqualify the applicant from employment;
- The applicant has sworn/affirmed that the applicant is not disqualified from employment;
- The applicant has fully completed and complied with the requirements of the templates above;
- Your district has initiated a review of the employment history of the applicant by contacting the employers and requested the information contained in ISBE’s Template 2; and
- Your district must also, for those applicants licensed by ISBE, verify the applicant’s reported previous employers with the ISBE’s educator licensure database to ensure accuracy.
- These requirements must also be completed for substitute employees before the initial hiring of a substitute employee or the placement of the substitute employee on your district’s approved substitute list. The substitute employee must complete this application for each district wherein they wish to be employed. An employment history review conducted by an entity that provides substitute staffing services may satisfy the statutory requirements. 105 ILCS 5/22-94(i)(3).
If your district receives a request for an employment history review, you must, within twenty (20) days of receiving the request, disclose the requested information to the requesting employer’s central office or office of human resources. If the response to the request includes an affirmation that one of the below occurred, the district must provide additional information and all related records, except if the allegation was found to be false, unfounded, or unsubstantiated. If the applicant: (1) has been the subject of a sexual misconduct allegation; (2) discharged, asked to resign, resigned from, disciplined, had an employment contract not renewed because of an adjudication or finding of sexual misconduct while an allegation of sexual misconduct was pending or under investigation; or (3) has had a license or certificate suspended, surrendered, or revoked because of an adjudication or finding of sexual misconduct, then your district must provide additional information and all related records.
When an employee leaves, or at the request of an employee your district must complete the template and maintain the template in the employee’s personnel file. Any investigation completed after an employee has left your district needs to be updated in the file accordingly.
Starting July 1, 2023, a school district cannot enter into any employment contract that acts to suppress information about allegations of sexual misconduct. There are specific statutory requirements of which your district should be aware related to the prohibition. Any contract or agreement that violates these will be void and unenforceable.
You can review two of our previous blog posts on these issues below:
If you have any questions about the information contained herein or need assistance with the templates, contact your school attorney.