BILL NUMBER: AB 1594	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blakeslee

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2007

   An act to amend Sections 35021.1 and 44932 of the Education Code,
relating to school personnel.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1594, as introduced, Blakeslee. School personnel: volunteers:
teachers: grounds for dismissal.
   (1) Existing law authorizes a school district to permit any
person, except a person required to register as a sex offender, to
supervise pupils during the school lunch, breakfast or nutrition
period or to serve as a nonteaching volunteer aide and authorizes a
school district or county office of education to request that a local
law enforcement agency conduct an automated records check of a
prospective nonteaching volunteer aide in order to ascertain whether
the prospective nonteaching volunteer aide has been convicted of any
sex offense as defined.
   This bill would require a school district and county office of
education to verify that a school volunteer is not a person required
to register as a sex offender by checking the Internet Web site that
the Department of Justice is required to maintain for purposes of
informing the public about the identity of persons required to
register as sex offenders.
   (2) Existing law prohibits a permanent employee from being
dismissed except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, one of
which is immoral or unprofessional conduct.
   This bill would include writing a sexually suggestive or romantic
communication to a pupil as unprofessional conduct for which the
employee may be dismissed. The bill also would make technical,
nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 35021.1 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
   35021.1.  A school district or county office of education 
shall check the Internet Web site that the Department of Justice is
required to maintain pursuant to Section 290.46 of the Penal Code and
 may request that a local law enforcement agency conduct an
automated records check of a prospective nonteaching volunteer aide
in order to ascertain whether the prospective nonteaching volunteer
aide has been convicted of any sex offense as defined in Section
44010. A plea or verdict of guilty, a finding of guilt by a court in
a trial without jury, or a conviction following a plea of nolo
contendere shall be deemed to be a conviction within the meaning of
this section. If the local law enforcement agency agrees to provide
that automated records check, the results therefrom shall be returned
to the requesting district or county office of education within 72
hours of the written request. A local law enforcement agency may
charge a fee to the requesting agency not to exceed the actual
expense to the law enforcement agency.
  SEC. 2.  Section 44932 of the Education Code is amended to read:
   44932.  (a) No permanent employee shall be dismissed except for
one or more of the following causes:
   (1) Immoral or unprofessional conduct.  For purposes of this
section, writing a sexually suggestive or romantic communication to a
pupil is unprofessional conduct for which an employee may be
dismissed. 
   (2) Commission, aiding, or advocating the commission of acts of
criminal syndicalism, as prohibited by Chapter 188 of the Statutes of
1919, or in  any   an  amendment 
thereof   to that chapter  .
   (3) Dishonesty.
   (4)  Unsatisfactory performance.
   (5) Evident unfitness for service.
   (6) Physical or mental condition unfitting him or her to instruct
or associate with children.
   (7) Persistent violation of or refusal to obey the school laws of
the state or reasonable regulations prescribed for the government of
the public schools by the State Board  of Education 
or by the governing board of the school district employing him or
her.
   (8) Conviction of a felony or of  any   a
 crime involving moral turpitude.
   (9) Violation of Section 51530 or conduct specified in Section
1028 of the Government Code, added by Chapter 1418 of the Statutes of
1947.
   (10) Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist Party.
   (11) Alcoholism or other drug abuse  which  
that  makes the employee unfit to instruct or associate with
children.
   (b) The governing board of a school district may suspend without
pay for a specific period of time on grounds of unprofessional
conduct a permanent certificated employee or, in a school district
with an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, a
probationary employee, pursuant to the procedures specified in
Sections 44933, 44934, 44935, 44936, 44937, 44943, and 44944. This
authorization shall not apply to  any   a 
school district  which   that  has adopted
a collective bargaining agreement pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 3543.2 of the Government Code.