Office of Professional Responsibility

Frequently Asked Questions

What does OPR do?

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) was formed to investigate instances of; fraud, waste and abuse involving employees of the Dallas Independent School District.  In addition to this primary function, the OPR also has responsibility for investigating significant violations of District policy, most Child Protection Service (CPS) referrals, Equal Employment Opportunity investigations on behalf of Legal Services and conducting the annual Criminal Record Checks (CRC) relating to employees.

The overall mission of OPR is to help enhance the image of the Dallas ISD within the community as the District strives to be recognized as one of the best urban school districts in the country by 2010.

Why does OPR investigate district staff?

The primary mission of the Office of Professional Responsibility is to identify and investigate instances of fraud, waste and abuse within the Dallas ISD.  Additional duties and responsibilities of OPR include the investigation of; significant violations of District policies, Child Protective Service, Criminal Records Check and Equal Employment Opportunity investigations relating to District employees.  OPR also investigates allegations involving vendors and other non-district employees for attempts to circumvent District policies and procedures or corrupt District employees. 

When evidence of criminal wrong doing by District employees and/or others is uncovered by OPR, referrals are made to local, state or federal investigating agencies and prosecutors as appropriate. In addition, evidence relating to employees and non-employees alike is submitted to District administration officials for appropriate administrative action.

I think your investigative techniques are too harsh.  Why do you use them?  

We use generally accepted investigative techniques such as evidence identification and collection, interviewing, and document examination.  We believe it is vitally important that our investigations are fair, balanced and thorough.  We believe it is just as important to exonerate an employee of wrong doing as it is to implicate them.  That said, frequently our investigations involve difficult and troubling allegations that require us to "ask the hard questions and gather the hard evidence".            

I was under investigation and didn't know it.  Don't you think the person who is being investigated should be told they are under investigation?         

Many of our investigations are resolved with an interview of the employee at the onset of an investigation.  However, it is not always the best practice to notify all individuals that they are being investigated.  Many factors come into play that may delay notification of an employee of an investigation.  Frequently, the integrity of the investigation is best served by not disclosing it to an employee.  Also, frequently, witnesses are concerned about retaliation as a result of participating in an investigation.  Not disclosing the investigation to the subject often eliminates any additional allegations of retaliation.

Who gave you the right to conduct investigations?     

Conducting investigations is our job not our right.  The Board of Trustees has authorized the Superintendent to employ investigators to investigate administrative matters that occur in the district. The Superintendent has charged our office with that responsibility.        

How long does it take to complete an investigation?   

The time necessary to conduct an investigation varies according to the allegations and the techniques needed to collect all the facts.  Some investigations can be concluded after two or three interviews others, however, may be protracted investigations that involve many interviews and extensive document recovery and examination.

Did you turn the information about my investigation over to the paper?          

No.  Our investigations belong to the district.  We complete our investigations and they are forwarded to the district's Human Development office for whatever action they deem appropriate.  It should be noted however, that all completed administrative investigations are subject to release to the public/media pursuant to a public records request.

Will my investigation be turned over to local prosecutors?     

The evidence we gather in an investigation could be turned over to both local and/or federal prosecutors. The Superintendent has authorized our office to forward any evidence of criminal wrong-doing to the respective law enforcement agencies for whatever action they deem appropriate. 

Who are you people?      

We are the staff of the Office of Professional Responsibility.  The office is comprised of three units, compliance, training and education and investigations.  Our focus, whether compliance, training and education or investigations is to assist identifying and preventing matters of waste, fraud and abuse in the district's operations.     

If I need to report a case of child abuse, do I need to call you (OPR)?

No, Child Protection Service (CPS) leads should be reported to Josephine Hill at 972 502-4182.  She is responsible for notifying appropriate officials outside the District to the alleged abuse of a child.  The timeframes relating to these notifications are critical and should be made to her office immediately. 

Ms. Hill and representatives of Human Development (HD) and OPR meet regularly to review the CPS leads sent to investigating agencies to determine appropriate administrative actions to be taken within the District.

I was fired because of information the district received during a criminal history check.  How do you know it was really me?

Before a potential Criminal Records Check (CRC) investigation is initiated, every effort is made to eliminate false “hits” by comparing data such as; age, race, sex, height, weight, eye color, identifying alpha numeric data (Social Security numbers. driver license numbers, etc.) and any other information available to negate the “hit”.  The vast majority of CRC leads are eliminated in this manner and employees are not even aware that the false “hit” arose and had been eliminated during the annual CRC check.   

If the “hit” cannot be eliminated, the employee is contacted by OPR personnel and asked for an explanation.  If necessary, the criminal records are obtained from the law enforcement agency involved and used to confirm or negate the “hit”.  Information obtained from this investigation is forwarded to Human Development for appropriate action. 

In the future, CRC investigations will become much more accurate and less time consuming for all involved.  When the provisions of the Safe Schools Act are implemented, the live scan fingerprinting of District personnel, annual criminal records checks and the time consuming elimination of false “hits” will be a thing of the past.  Criminal history searches will be completed at the time of fingerprinting.  Responses will be received almost immediately from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC).  There will be no need for annual criminal records checks because the District will be notified if and when that individual is ever arrested in the future.

While the system is virtually 100% accurate, employees will still be given an opportunity to explain/refute any information received from the NCIC. 

Who can I talk to about my results (…of a CRC check)? Or Can I check the status of my CRC reports?

Once a CRC investigation is initiated, the normal first contact is with the employee to verify the accuracy of the information received.  If the employee insists that the information does not relate to them, it may be necessary to obtain records from the involved law enforcement agency.  Once received, the individual will normally be given an opportunity to explain any discrepancies.

An employee will be given an opportunity during the initial contact to supply any information they desire relating to the CRC “hit”.   Future annual CRC annual reports however, will be a thing of the past with the implementation of biometrics.  Reports relating to subsequent arrests will be received by the District as they occur. 

Employees are still required however to self report an arrest within 3 days of the event occurring.  Self reporters will be contacted by OPR personnel and given an opportunity to provide any explanation they wish concerning the arrest.

Why was HR Investigations eliminated?          

During the delayering process, the work that HR Investigations once did was turned over to the Office of Professional Responsibility.  As a matter of fact, the majority of the HR Investigations staff is now OPR staff.            

How come I never hear anything about your investigations?

Our investigations are conducted with extremely high levels of discretion.  It is our belief that an accusation of wrong-doing should not be allowed to ruin a person’s good name.   Convictions for wrong-doing, however, speak for themselves.

Will you be here a long time?

We hope so.  While the number of investigations we conduct may decrease over time, it will always be a good idea to have a department that monitors compliance and trains employees on expected behavior.