An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 12 - Investigations

 If so, when did you report the conduct and to whom did you make the report?  If you did not report the conduct, why not?  Was anyone else present during the incident?  What are the names of each person who was present during the incident?

It is important for the investigator to remind the witnesses of the school policy against retaliation as a result of their providing information during the investigation. Remind the witness if she or he feels retaliated against for participating in the investigation, he or she should report the alleged retaliation immediately.

LCW Practice Advisor

iv. Contacting Persons To Be Interviewed Contacting the persons to be interviewed is a critical part of the interview process. During each investigation, schools should have an established guideline on:  Who is responsible for contacting the person(s) to be interviewed;  How the persons to be interviewed should be contacted, i.e., either verbally or in writing;  What information should be provided to the person(s) to be interviewed; and  What admonitions, if any, should be given to the person(s) to be interviewed. For example, if an internal investigator is conducting the investigation, it might be appropriate for the investigator to contact the person(s) to be interviewed directly and schedule an interview. However, if an outside investigator is conducting the investigation, it might be more appropriate for someone from within the school to contact the person(s) to be interviewed and schedule the interviews on behalf of the investigator. Whether the initial contact with the person to be interviewed is verbal or in writing and what information should be provided to the person(s) to be interviewed, depends on who it is that is going to be interviewed. It is sometimes advisable to provide the person(s) to be interviewed with a “pre-interview memorandum” notifying him or her of the general nature of the investigation (See Section 3(c)(i) below for suggested language). Please see the Compendium for a sample memorandum.

3. I NTERVIEW P ROTOCOL

a. The Interview: Where, When? Preferably, interviews with the parties and critical witnesses should be in person whenever possible. Also, the interview should take place at the school during the school’s hours of

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 456