4112.61 — Employment References (AR)
The official document
What the district published
This is the source material — exactly as released by RUSD. The plain English translation below is this site's version, written for community members who shouldn't need a budget degree to understand where their school dollars go.
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What this document actually says
Policy 4112.61: Employment References (Adopted September 16, 2019)
This regulation ensures honesty in employee recommendation letters. It prohibits certificated staff (teachers, administrators) from writing misleading employment references in two ways: (1) They cannot intentionally omit important facts or state things they don't personally know to be true when recommending someone for a professional job, and (2) They cannot agree to write falsely positive recommendations as part of a deal where an employee resigns or drops a complaint against the district. This policy protects other schools from hiring problematic employees based on dishonest references and prevents "passing the trash" where districts give good recommendations to bad employees just to make them someone else's problem. The rule is based on California Code of Regulations requirements for professional conduct.
What this means for your family
This policy helps protect your children by preventing district employees from giving misleading job recommendations that could help unqualified or problematic teachers get jobs elsewhere. It ensures honest references so schools can make informed hiring decisions. While this doesn't directly affect your child's current classroom, it promotes accountability and helps maintain quality educators throughout California's school system.
Summaries are AI-assisted and based on the original district document shown above. Nothing has been editorialized — interpretations are clearly labeled. This site is maintained by Lina Godfrey's campaign as a community resource.