SECTIONS 32390 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 32390

32390. (a) The governing board of any school district may offer a
fingerprint program for children enrolled in kindergarten or newly
enrolled in that district. The governing board may contract with any
public or private agency, including any civic or community
organization if determined to be appropriate by the governing board,
to perform the fingerprinting. The governing board may seek to obtain
private funding and volunteer assistance in performing the
fingerprinting. The department shall adopt rules and regulations
concerning obtaining private funding and volunteer assistance, and
develop fingerprinting standards, as approved by the Department of
Justice, to be followed in the fingerprinting of children pursuant to
this article.
The governing board of any school district offering a
fingerprinting program pursuant to this article shall assess a fee to
the parent or guardian of the fingerprinted pupils. The fee shall be
calculated to reimburse the district only for actual costs
associated with the program.
(b) In a school district which elects to offer a fingerprinting
program pursuant to this article, each parent or guardian of a child
shall be informed of the school fingerprinting program when he or she
first enrolls the child in the public schools. At that time the
parent or guardian shall declare, in writing, whether or not he or
she wants the child to be fingerprinted in the school program and if
the parent or guardian consents to the fingerprinting he or she shall
pay the applicable fee. The parent or guardian shall be informed in
writing at the time of enrollment that he or she may reverse in
writing his or her declaration on fingerprinting at any time.
Children shall not be fingerprinted without the consent of the parent
or guardian.
(c) Any report or document containing fingerprints of a child
which is made pursuant to this article shall be given to the parents
or guardian of the child and shall not be given to, or retained by,
the school district or any other private or public entity. The report
or document containing the fingerprints may be given to the parents
or guardian with the child's report card or any other document
routinely mailed to parents or guardians, or may be given to parents
or guardians in person at any conference with the child's teacher. To
the maximum extent feasible, the report or document containing the
fingerprints shall not be sent to the parents in a separate mailing.
(d) As used in this article, the terms "school district," and
"governing board" include a county superintendent of schools.