An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law Compendium

 Ask the complainant what action he or she is seeking. This is not a guarantee of action school will take, but might affect credibility determination and might be relevant when determining the appropriate discipline/outcome of the investigation. Might phrase question as “what are you hoping for as a result of bringing this complaint?”  Interviewing the accused.  The accused should be given an opportunity to respond to each allegation against him or her.  Ask the accused to identify people who should be interviewed and the information he or she thinks those people will contribute to the investigation.  Ask the accused for relevant documents and other evidence.  Ask the accused if he or she kept notes or sent emails, texts, or social media messages or posts related to the allegations of what happened or that would be relevant to show the allegations are not accurate. If so, obtain a copy of those notes, emails, texts, or social media messages or posts if they are available.  After interviewing a witness, place notes of the interview, the draft questions and any relevant documents presented to or received from the witness in the binder under each witness’s tab.  If provided with a written statement, request signature and date.  Even if provided complete written statement, still interview witness.  Re-interview the complainant, witnesses and/or the alleged wrongdoer as necessary to help clarify factual discrepancies, inconsistencies or responses to information acquired during the interviews. Background documents (i.e., the complaint, the school’s applicable rules of conduct, policies, and other rules, the complaint and investigation procedure, etc.);  Documents and photographs of physical evidence gathered during the investigation; and  Notes, written signed summaries, and/or transcripts of interviews.  Make factual findings.  Basic factual findings should:  Address each factual allegation in the complaint (if there is one) or each allegation made by the complainant; Review investigation binder. It should contain the following: 

EVALUATING THE FACTS: 

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law - Compendium ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 194