Practical Tips for Conducting Credible Investigations
1. Know when tips, rumors, or allegations require an
investigation, even if the informer wishes to remain anonymous, and
what can be ignored. Allegations of an inappropriate relationship
with a student by a school employee or threats to student safety
always warrant investigation.
2. Documenting a complaint is the foundation on which an
investigation rests. Avoid telling the complainant the complaint
must be put in writing for you to do anything and assist, when
receiving a verbal complaint or conditions warrant, in preparing a
written complaint.
3. Take time to plan the investigation, as failure to do so can
enable people to cover their tracks. There are many ways to
approach an investigation, depending on the nature of the
complaint, e.g., personnel, parent, student, sexual misconduct, or
discipline issues, all with varying degrees of seriousness, and no
one way works in all situations.
4. Consider whether/when to involve other agencies, such as law
enforcement or DFACS, and the possibility that they may claim they
were not notified in a timely manner or that the investigation
interfered with their investigation.
5. Identity the existing records or documents that may contain
relevant information and get them immediately, before talking to
witnesses; otherwise, documents may go missing. Plan to secure
written consent where required.
6. Identify other individuals who may have corroborating evidence.
Resist the feeling of urgency to go immediately to the accused or
the complainant or to bring them together.
7. Decide which witnesses must be interviewed and in what order,
balancing decisions with available time, which is usually limited.
It usually is best to talk first to the most candid and most
reliable witness because once the first person is interviewed,
other potential witnesses probably will know the information and
questions asked.
8. Before the interview, outline the questions to be asked,
recognizing that spontaneity is necessary to follow up on answers
received.
9. Decide when to begin the investigation. Consider the risk of
starting on Friday afternoon and continuing on Monday, as long
weekends can change an investigation.
10. Decide who will conduct the interviews, considering who is
likely to be the most productive in getting the information.
Whether central office personnel or the superintendent need to be
involved in interviewing depends on the seriousness of the
allegation and its potential for ending up in litigation. Although
the board attorney may be consulted throughout the process,
reconsider the urge to have him/her conduct the interviews, as
his/her involvement in that capacity could result in later
disqualification from representing the district or an argument that
the attorney's interview notes are discoverable by an opposing
party.
11. Decide who will witness the interviews as backup for the
interviewer. Generally, it is not a good practice to use a peer
teacher as a witness when a teacher is being investigated or for
the principal to use his secretary. The accused is not entitled to
have an attorney/advisor present unless law enforcement is
investigating a crime. Students are not necessarily entitled to
have parents present, but they should be informed/involved as soon
as possible depending on the facts in the specific case.
12. Remember that recording witness interviews can be a two-edged
sword that may be used against the district, as it will be
available to the other side in an adversarial situation.
13. Emphasize the confidentiality of the investigation and warn
against retaliation against the accused, the complainant, or any
other witness. Do not deceive witnesses by telling them that
information disclosed will not be disclosed to anyone else. Make
clear that you are not asking anyone to take sides; all they need
to do is tell what their eyes saw and their ears heard.
14. Resist the temptation to bring in a student with instructions
to write down what happened. Consider a technique in which the
administrator, with no notes or recorder, encourages the student to
tell the story from beginning to end. Once the story is out, the
interviewer drafts a coherent summary statement written in the
first person, allows the student to read/correct it, and gets the
student to add a statement such as "I affirm this is a true
statement," accompanied by the signatures of the student and a
third party who witnessed the interview.
15. Do not make statements during the interview that express an
opinion one way or the other, as sympathetic listening can be
misinterpreted as witness support that may come back to haunt the
interviewer.
16. It is generally better to gather all relevant information from
other witnesses before interviewing the accused so that there will
be a frame of reference for evaluating the testimony of the
accused. Decide in advance what information obtained from witnesses
will be disclosed to the accused.
17. When interviewing the accused, avoid giving advice or making
threats. Start with general questions and narrow them down to
specific facts that are alleged. If the accused admits to the
allegations, be prepared with options available to the accused. If
the accused denies the allegation, put that in the statement.
18. Be sure that interview or other investigation documents are
properly identified and dated.
19. Document the process, regardless of whether the investigation
is conclusive or otherwise, to protect the district from later
allegations that administrators knew and did nothing. Avoid telling
the complainant that there is no evidence. If there is no
conclusive evidence, there should be statements from witnesses that
led to that conclusion.
Decide what type of report, if any, should be produced detailing
the investigation results and any recommendations the investigator
may have, remembering any privacy or disclosure rights that may
exist under the Georgia's Open Records Act or the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act
1. O.C.G.A. § 16-5-23.1 - Definition of battery. A person commits the offense of battery when he or she intentionally causes substantial physical harm or visible bodily harm to another. As used in this Code section, the term 'visible bodily harm' means bodily harm capable of being perceived by a person other than the victim and may include, but is not limited to, substantially blackened eyes, substantially swollen lips or other facial or body parts, or substantial bruises to body parts.
2. According to the October 26, Dear Colleague letter, OCR's position is that harassment with motive based on "any actual or perceived characteristic including race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, physical attributes, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability or disability, or by any other distinguishing characteristic" can be investigated by OCR.
3. When starting an investigation, consider if you need others to be involved, including DFACS or law enforcement and possibility special education staff. Further, it may be necessary to include other administrators based on the severity of the incident and who may be best to interview certain witnesses.