State Senator Gary LeBeau
April 11, 2007
LeBeau Applauds Passage of Personnel File Review Bill in Senate
State Sen. Gary D. LeBeau (D-East Hartford), a public school teacher in East Hartford for more than three decades, today hailed the passage in the Senate of a bill which would require school boards to review the personnel files of most applicants before hiring that applicant.
Senate Bill 1060, "An Act Concerning School Expulsions and the Review of Personnel Files When Hiring for Positions in a School District," was approved today by consent in the Senate. It now heads to the House for consideration.
"I hate it when the state has to legislate common sense, but as a parent of three children and as a longtime public school teacher, I find it pretty disturbing that someone who works so closely with children--be it a teacher or a principal--could be hired without the slightest look at their personnel file," Sen. LeBeau said. "Now school boards and superintendents will have no excuse for not doing the due diligence that parents, the public, and educators both want and expect."
State Rep. Henry Genga (D-East Hartford) said he is looking forward to the bill's passage too.
"This is a good start to protect our children and address a very sensitive situation," Rep. Genga said. "Hopefully this will give our local educators another tool not previously available to them to evaluate personnel."
The bill is the result of a situation that recently developed in East Hartford when 44-year-old East Hartford High School Principal Kevin Miller resigned after police began an investigation of his allegedly inappropriate- but not criminal--conduct with a 15-year-old female student.
It was later determined that Miller's personnel file from his previous job in the New Haven public school system contained four investigations by the state Department of Families and Children. East Hartford education officials never asked for Miller's personnel file, nor did they visit the middle school where he worked.
The bill:
- requires those who apply for school district positions that require credentials from the State Board of Education to authorize the employing school board to review their personnel files from any other school district, in Connecticut or another state, where they worked;
- allows local and regional boards of education to disclose the personnel files according to the applicant's authorization; and
- requires school boards to review and evaluate the information in the personnel files before hiring an applicant for such a position.
- incorporates the current definition of a "personnel file. " By law, a personnel file consists of written information about an employee that an employer has used to determine the employee's eligibility for employment, promotion, additional compensation, transfer, termination, or other adverse personnel actions. It also includes employee evaluations or reports on the employee's character, credit, and work habits and any explanatory statement from the employee about the information in the file. A personnel file excludes such information as medical records; letters of reference or recommendations from third parties; material an employer uses to plan for future operations; stock option or management bonus plan records; information in separately maintained security files; test information whose disclosure would invalidate the test; and documents being developed or prepared for use in civil, criminal, or grievance procedures
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