Have you denied teacher certification or has your educator’s license been put on hold because of DCF?
Effective July 1, 2011, the Connecticut Board of Education requires each applicant for initial issuance or renewal of a professional certificate to sign an Authorization so that the licensing agency can determine whether the individual is on the DCF Central Abuse and Neglect Registry.
If the Department of Education learns that an applicant is on the DCF Registry, the application is automatically denied.
However, the applicant can generally request that the Department of Education review or “reconsider” the denial of the certification. This essentially is a deferment of the final decision to deny certification while the applicant tries to rectify the situation with DCF. It basically buys the applicant time.
In the interim, there are rights to appeal DCF’s Central Registry decision.
Sometimes, DCF will reconsider their decision and remove the individual from the Registry.
In other cases, DCF will require the person to complete an appeal process. This involves a Hearing Officer conducting an Administrative Hearing where they listen to testimony and consider other evidence to decide whether to remove the “perpetrator” from the Registry.
These cases are highly fact dependent and extremely time sensitive. Because the law is new, the application of the law and the procedures governing it are evolving.
Please email me or call (203) 259-5251 if you need help with DCF and teacher certification issues.