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Background checks weed out bad teachers
When a background check company conducted rechecks for an Indiana school with about 1,000 employees, more than 40 teachers had criminal histories, including four with drug or theft felonies.
At least one employee was terminated.
Without the updated background checks, the potentially dangerous teachers still would be in front of classrooms.
"It just illustrates the importance of checking on a periodic basis," said Mike McCarty, CEO of Danville-based Safe Hiring Solutions, which conducts checks for about half the state's schools and every public school system in Greater Lafayette.
McCarty, a former violent-crime detective, is one of several stakeholders in the state who are advocating for ongoing background checks of public school teachers. Rechecks, they say, will help weed out problematic teachers already in schools to ensure students aren't among dangerous educators.
Currently, teachers, substitutes and other school personnel are required to submit to an expanded background check that searches their records in every jurisdiction they have lived and ensures they are not on any sex offender registries.
In March, Gov. Mike Pence signed a law that strengthens those screens by requiring schools to check child welfare records to determine if teaching applicants have been cited in child abuse or neglect reports. Schools also must check whether an applicant's teaching license has been suspended or revoked in another state.
The law also orders schools to disclose substantiated reports of any known child abuse or neglect if they're asked for an employment reference, even if the employee had signed a confidentiality agreement.
Proponents of ongoing screens stressed their importance, especially because Indiana teachers hired before 2009 weren't required to submit to an expanded criminal history check that searched their records nationally.
Some lawmakers have already unsuccessfully pushed for the screens.
A bill authored by state Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Litzon, last year that added criteria to teacher screens originally included a requirement for employees who are likely to have direct, ongoing contact with children to undergo an expanded criminal history check every five years. But he said lobbyists shot down that text because teachers would have to pay for the $30-45 check.
"I wanted that language so bad," Thompson said. "There will be a day we’ll try it again probably."
Under state law, schools still can choose to have their employees pay to submit to rechecks. The school, however, must pay for it if a teacher is screened more than once in five years.
Teresa Meredith, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said the teachers union isn't opposed to tougher, more frequent checks but doesn't want the cost to fall on teachers, most of whom would never harm a child.
"Most teachers are doing a really good job. Why put an additional cost on people who are already doing the right thing anyway?" she said, adding that the state should pay for rechecks.
In Greater Lafayette, only the Lafayette Catholic School System rechecks all of its employees — every three years — after they've been hired. Tippecanoe School Corp. and Lafayette School Corp. don't conduct rechecks, and West Lafayette Community School Corp. will conduct them on a case-by-case basis, the districts said.
Lafayette School Superintendent Les Huddle said the district will rescreen an employee if information that warrants an updated background check is brought to its attention. In that case, the district generally will foot the bill.
For the Catholic schools, ongoing checks are part of a diocesewide policy that also requires all volunteers and staff to undergo them every three years, said Executive Director Eric Davis.
Aside from the policy, Davis said rechecks just make sense.
"It's obvious that a background check is only going to cover things in the past," he said. "I think we’re just trying to follow best practices."
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