For the purpose of retirement and other statutory benefits, teachers employed as full-time instructional personnel by the Board of Visitors shall be deemed to be full-time state personnel and shall receive the same benefits as are accorded all other full-time state personnel. The Board of Visitors shall require the teachers at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind to comply with the provisions of §§ 22.1-298.1, 22.1-299, and 22.1-303. The Board of Visitors shall require any applicant for employment as full-time instructional personnel or other position requiring as a condition of employment direct contact with students to submit to a fingerprinting and criminal history record check through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in accordance with the provisions of §§ 22.1-296 and 22.1-296.1. The Board of Visitors shall be deemed a governmental entity for the purpose of receiving from the Central Criminal Records Exchange any criminal history record information pertaining to an application for employment. Contracts for the employment of teachers shall be in the form prescribed by the school board of the school division in which the school is located. In cases of nonrenewal of contracts of probationary teachers, the decisions shall be appealable to the Board of Visitors. For all other purposes, the Virginia Personnel Act (§ 2.2-2900 et seq.) shall apply to the teachers of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind. The Board of Visitors shall establish salary schedules for all professional personnel that are competitive with those in effect for the school divisions in which the facility is located.