by Natalie Beck

Benjamin Terrill was hired for a teaching position by the Akron City School District in 1996.  Since that time, it has been discovered that he not only lied on his job application about his criminal past, military, and job experience, but that in 1999, he also threatened to shoot a special education student for making too much noise.  That was NINE years ago.  I have serious concerns about a school district that allows a teacher to continue teaching after a threat like that.  If the situation were reversed and a student threatened a teacher, you can bet that student would be immediately expelled.

Obviously, I also question why the school district did not perform a background check on Terrill before he was hired or even after the threat was made against that student.  I am anxiously awaiting the school district’s statement regarding the hiring and retention of this teacher.

WKYC Exclusive: Teacher who posed as combat veteran threatened to shoot special ed student

Eric Mansfield, WKYC.com - September 30, 2008

AKRON — An Akron teacher who masqueraded as a combat veteran once threatened to bring a shotgun to school and shoot a special education student who was making too much noise, according to his teaching file.

Benjamin Terril has been suspended from the Akron Public Schools following his arrest on Sept. 1.

Akron Police found dozens of weapons, some believed to be illegal, along with hand grenades and drugs inside Terril’s home, police said.

Channel 3’s Eric Mansfield checked Terril’s teaching file, which included Terril’s claims that he served in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division and was wounded during Desert Storm. A formal request for Terril’s military file resulted in the government denying that Terril ever served a day in uniform. Terril had no comment when asked about the phony claims of military service.

Also in Terril’s file was a reprimand he received in 1999 for threatening to bring a shotgun to Buchtel High School to shoot a special education student who was making too much noise.

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by Jason Morris

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana teachers who run afoul of the law won’t necessarily get into any trouble over their licenses because the state’s system of reporting and background checks lags those in other states, a newspaper study found.

Unlike other states, Indiana doesn’t require schools and police to report most teacher misconduct to state education officials, The Indianapolis Star reported Sunday.

Instead, prosecutors and school superintendents are required to report only if teachers are convicted of certain felonies: kidnapping, dealing drugs or sex crimes against children. Arrests or investigations even for these crimes — and convictions for lesser ones — can fall below the state’s radar.

“Ideally we would want to be notified anytime anybody holding a teacher license gets arrested,” said Kevin McDowell, general counsel for the Indiana Department of Education. “Some states do that.”

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by Natalie Beck

Last week, I blogged about how the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association (PIAA) does not conduct background checks on those officiating school sporting events (see Pittsburgh Newspaper Reports Sports Officials Have Criminal Records).  Since that blog, I’ve seen numerous follow up stories regarding this issue, the majority disagreeing with PIAA officials that their current process of not conducting background checks is acceptable.  Well, it appears that PIAA may not have a choice in the future of whether to screen those they hire to work directly with children.

State Rep. Pushes For Background Checks For PIAA Officials

WPXI.com - September 23, 2008

CANONSBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania State Rep. Tim Solobay is pushing for a new law to protect high school athletes from child predators.

Under Solobay’s legislation, all Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Athletic Association officials who have direct contact with children will have to undergo a background check.

A recent report showed several PIAA officials had criminal histories including child abuse, sexual battery and child pornography.

Let’s just hope Pennsylvania does their homework on what constitutes a thorough background check.  Otherwise, this may not be the last we hear on this issue.

by Jason Morris

A new law requiring more background checks on Ohio teachers and school employees is finding a lot of adverse information.  No one ever wants to see someone lose their job, especially after so many years of gainful employment.  However, this is for a greater good, protecting our children.

Searches of Old Criminal Records End School Jobs

Sweeping changes in state laws intended to keep students safe have uncovered criminal offenses — some decades old — that are costing school employees their jobs.

The impact has been especially evident among nonteaching employees who, until this year, did not have to undergo the kind of comprehensive background checks done for teachers.

Now, staffers such as custodians, secretaries and cafeteria workers may face dismissal for newly unearthed offenses committed years ago.

John Reccord, a night supervisor for the Orange school district, has worked there for nearly two decades. But he stands to lose his job for an offense to which he pleaded guilty 35 years ago and was sentenced to probation.

“I have been at the school for 19 years without any problems,” Reccord said. “This is going to affect people who did something when they were young. Why should they lose their jobs now?”

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by Natalie Beck

If you live in Northeast Ohio, you may remember the scandal that rocked the University of Akron about two years ago.  For those not from around here, I’ll recap.  The Akron Beacon Journal reported back in November of 2006 that the school allowed convicted felons to live on campus.  It was even reported that a 45-year-old ex-con was paired to room with a 19-year-old college freshman.  The University of Akron did not conduct background checks on students applying to live in the dorms.  My sister attends the University of Akron and was attending during the time this story hit the media.  I can’t tell you how glad I am that she was (and still is) a commuter.

According to this article, only about 10% of colleges conduct background checks on students applying for housing on campus.  I see that percentage rising over the next few years.  It has the same look and feel of employment screening.  Like employers, schools want to make sure that the people inhabiting their facilities are not a threat to others around them.

When I read this news story, I definitely saw a similarity between employment screening and screening students who wish to live on a college campus.  For instance, the University of Central Florida states that they only conduct background checks on applicants who admit to criminal activity on their admissions application.  In other words, they rely on their prospective students to be truthful about their past.  This sounds oddly familiar. Just like job applicants, students have a vested interest in not disclosing that information.  If that college (employer) has a really great program (job) they want to get into (land), they will do what it takes.  Who wants to set up road blocks for themselves?  They probably think it’s better to take the chance that their background won’t be checked.

This is precisely the reason employers and schools need to stop these people at the gate.  Why let them get the one-up on you?  It’s always better to know who you are dealing with and avoid a potential bad situation.  When it comes to the question of whether to conduct a background check, the pros always outweigh the cons.  If safety and security is of the utmost priority, what are you waiting for?

Click here to read “More Schools Using Checks”

by Jason Morris

I was going to post this article sans the comments.  I can’t hold back….I don’t agree with many of the statements here, notably:

“Personally, I feel everything is being done to keep our children safe,” Velkoff said.

Again, you can do background checks or you can do background checks properly.  I humbly submit my series Employment Screening 101 to the Fairfax county Public Schools.

Background Checks aren’t Foolproof

By Layla Wilder
Source: Fairfax County Times

As children return to school after a year when several Fairfax County Public Schools staff were arrested, those in charge of the school system’s hiring say they are doing everything possible to keep criminals away from students.

An unusually high number of school employees were arrested during the 2007-2008 school year, said Kevin North, head of the school system’s Human Resources Department.

As the 2008-2009 school year begins, the schools’ hiring staff will continue with its stringent approach to screening applicants, North said. Last year’s statistics proved that approach hasn’t always been successful, according to notifications from the county’s police.

Leonard Marsh, an assistant principal at Cub Run Elementary School, was arrested Oct. 30, 2007, for growing marijuana. Police arrested Marsh and his wife, Jinny, after narcotics detectives executed a search warrant at the Marshes’ home and found marijuana in packages and growing in a closet.

In May 2008, Rachel Smith, a teacher at the Chantilly Academy, was arrested and charged with possessing methamphetamine.

Thyra Eller-Cox, 42, was an administrative assistant at Greenbriar West Elementary School when she was arrested and charged with two counts of embezzlement in December 2007. She allegedly deposited school money into a personal bank account, police said.

Ted Velkoff, president of Chantilly High School’s PTSA, said the topic has been discussed at the group’s meetings. Administrators assure parents that everything is being done to hire quality staff.

“Personally, I feel everything is being done to keep our children safe,” Velkoff said.

Allan Barbee, a former investigator specialist for the county school system, said in November 2007 that about 5 percent of people applying for county school jobs have a prior criminal record.

They are required to undergo background checks from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the state police and the Virginia Department of Social Services.

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by Jason Morris

You may not believe this but I have been waiting for a story like this for a while.  We have written countless times (including 5 minutes ago) about school systems failing to conduct proper background checks.  It appears Davidson County did something right!  They caught a fugitive looking to work as a teacher with kids in a school.

Newly Hired Davidson Co. Teacher Was a Fugitive

LEXINGTON, N.C. (WGHP) — A woman hired to teach in the Davidson County school system failed a background check and will be returned to Maryland to face criminal charges.

Arlene Denetta Hudson, 42, of High Point was arrested last week after a criminal history check revealed she was wanted by Maryland State Police for stealing a car in September 2005 from a Toyota dealership in Westminster, Md.

School officials notified the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office after Hudson’s background check turned up the criminal charges. A school resource officer then arrested her.

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by Jason Morris

Another story about schools failing our children by not conducting proper background checks.

Back to the Background Check

By Eric Ringham

Every once in a while, you see a mistake repeated often enough that you wonder whether there’s business opportunity at hand. Case in point: a Sunday Star Tribune story by Jim Walsh and Patrice Relerford about yet another executive whose personal information went unchecked before hiring.

This situation involves the administrator who is the focus of an investigation into $160,000 missing from a Minneapolis charter school. Joel Pourier signed on six years ago to be the finance director at Heart of the Earth/Oh Day Aki charter school. He had been an unlicensed math teacher at another school — a situation that begs another set of questions. But he told a Heart of the Earth staffer he had an MBA, with an emphasis in finance. He was hired, then promoted to executive director. No one bothered to see if he really had an MBA from Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb. — which would have taken a simple phone call to the school. No one verified two other false claims: that he had a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Schenectady County Community College in New York, or an associate’s degree from a Kansas school. The bachelor’s degree claim alone should have been a red flag: a two-year college had a granted a four-year degree? Possible, but unusual.

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by Jason Morris

I guess you can’t technically call this resume fraud? This is a terrible and negligent practice by educators, but isn’t prevented by the NJ Department of Education.  A degree with no academic value gives educators and administrators a nice pay raise.  The only chance of this practice coming back to haunt them is a quality background check when they go to find their next job.

N.J. Educators Free to use Diploma Mills

Taxpayers foot the bill for tuition

By ALAN GUENTHER • Gannett New Jersey • August 17, 2008

Psst . . . Wanna buy a degree from a diploma mill and stick taxpayers with the bill?

If you’re a public school educator, New Jersey won’t stop you.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said she is powerless to prevent local school boards from handing out tax money to administrators who boost their pay by obtaining degrees with little or no academic value.

When it issued a nine-page report last week, the department entered a growing national controversy about the value of online degrees. But instead of announcing tough new standards, the department made only a few suggestions.

“I feel sorry for New Jersey. Here they had an opportunity to step up to the plate, and they opted not to,” said former FBI agent Allen Ezell, who investigated diploma mill fraud for 11 years, then wrote three books on the subject. “I would have thought New Jersey would have had a little more brass than that.”

Freehold Regional High School District became the epicenter of the diploma mill controversy in New Jersey when the superintendent and two top administrators obtained degrees from an online school that has been deemed an “apparent diploma mill” by Alabama officials.

After completing an investigation into the administrators’ degrees, the education department’s report stated there was “no sustainable evidence” that the administrators “possessed the prerequisite intent to deceive when they obtained the degrees” from Breyer State University, which has been chased out of two states and an African country.

The education department report suggested — but did not require — that high school administrators, in the future, earn college degrees from reputable, accredited schools.

None of the three administrators investigated — Superintendent H. James Wasser, Assistant Superintendent Donna Evangelista and recently retired Assistant Superintendent Frank Tanzini — was required to pay back the $10,750 they received in taxpayer money to obtain degrees from Breyer State.

The board gave raises — $2,500 each per year — for their advanced degrees.

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by Jason Morris

This makes me feel great, my 2nd grader starts school tomorrow.  The State of Ohio is widely considered one of the best states when it comes to the accessibility of fingerprinting and the channeling of results.  Ohio makes it very simple for industries to conduct background checks when fingerprints are required.  The fact that educator background checks are behind is ridiculous.

Background Checks of Longtime Educators Lag

Many to return to classes without a search for criminal history in years
Saturday,  August 16, 2008 8:50 PM

By Jennifer Smith Richards

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Hundreds of longtime educators whose criminal histories haven’t been examined in years, if ever, will return to their classrooms in the next few weeks without background checks, the state says.

The state didn’t even require fingerprints to be submitted until Sept. 5, after the start of school in most districts, but a backlog in federal background checks means that it could take much longer before the Ohio Department of Education examines the results.

In addition, the department’s priority is to check the background of new licensees before looking to see whether longtime school workers have criminal records.

All school workers must be fingerprinted for state and federal background checks under a state law enacted last fall. But educators with permanent or eight-year licenses are particularly affected, because many had not been checked.

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