DEEP CORI CHECKS ON TEACHERS IN MEDFORD? WHERE ARE THEY?

 

MANY STATES ARE TAKING ACTION

FAIR USE COPYRIGHT

https://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues059.shtml

Tennessee is one state trying to make its schools safer. Starting January 1, 2000, Tennessee will "make criminal background checks mandatory for applicants for teaching positions and other positions having proximity to children."

"Previously, the law was permissive," Tennessee School Boards Association staff attorney Christy L. Ballard told Education World. She noted a current provision that requires "all persons applying for teaching positions and other positions requiring proximity to children to disclose whether they have been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony in Tennessee or any other state." That provision, Ballard said, also requires applicants to disclose whether they have been dismissed for certain reasons specified in other sections of the code.

"The statute provides that any knowing falsification of the required information shall be sufficient grounds for termination of employment and shall also constitute a Class A misdemeanor, which must be reported to the district attorney general for prosecution," adds Ballard.

Tennessee isn't the only state taking action.

"Most states now require fingerprinting and obtaining a criminal history," attorney Dean Pickett, a specialist in school law, told Education World. Pickett was among the speakers at this year's annual conference of the National School Boards Association's Council of School Attorneys. "This is vital to the screening process, but it must be done with the understanding that it will reveal only those who have encountered the criminal justice system in some way. Our studies teach us that the typical pedophile employed in our schools makes his or her way through three different school employment settings before being stopped."

OTHER FACTS TO CONSIDER

• Sixteen states do not require criminal background checks for first-time applicants for professional certificates, so if someone does have a history of past offenses, those states will never know.
• Twenty-one states do not require employees to be fingerprinted, either for certification or employment, and have no immediate plans to require it. (See an Education Week story, 'Passing the Trash' by School Districts Frees Sexual Predators To Hunt Again.)
• Colorado requires no background checks for non-teaching school personnel, only for prospective teachers, so a person with a history of driving under the influence, for example, could be driving your child's school bus.
• A district files non-teaching personnel's fingerprints directly with the Bureau of Investigation, but applicants are frequently hired before the district hears the results. It is perfectly legal for a school to hire and/or retain a person who has a felony or another criminal record.
• In at least 16 states, educators convicted of sex crimes against students will not automatically lose their licenses; therefore, a teacher who has a history of having sex with students may continue to teach.