” The bill, when signed, will allow a school district to deny employment, fire or refuse to hire someone who has a felony record — even if the conviction occurred decades ago and is not related to the job.”

This story is popping up all over my Google alerts and I felt compelled to post.  The above quote is from fdlreporter.com and refers to a proposed Wisconsin law that would ban all felons from working in schools.

Am I in favor of it? I think I am.  However, I’m not sure that this policy won’t be fought tooth and nail by folks such those at the EEOC.  Particularly, the part about the age of the offense and its relevance to the job.  This might actually be a case that just needs to be heard.

Would any of us entrust our children to schools who knowingly hired felons?  How about those who conducted substandard background checks and weren’t given comprehensive information? (Okay, that’s all schools.)

So is the EEOC willing to go to bat on this one?  We shall see.

I think we can all agree that going back to school sucks.  As a little kid I remember the dread I felt waking up for the first day of school and knowing that my summer was officially over.  Even as an adult, I get that same feeling for my kids.  So, it was with great anxiety that I put my fourth and first graders on the bus last week. (If you are a regular on this blog, you know what comes next).

Enter, my annual rant on school background checks.

You know, it’s a blessing and a curse to be in this business.  You can help a lot of great organization minimize the risk of hiring the wrong person.  You can also help these organizations validate that their candidate is the right choice.  Over the years, I have been exposed to some of the worst things people in this world can do.  And just when I see what I think is the most disgusting and heinous behavior, something else comes along that sets a new low.

To me, the worst offenses are those that deal with the abuse of children; whether physical, mental or sexual.  So you can imagine my feeling of helplessness when I know that I am powerless to help the schools (whether my own kids’ schools or any other) to perform comprehensive criminal background checks.  The states have created a false sense of security by mandating statewide criminal background checks for school employees.  Most states can’t even mandate that all their counties report information in to them.  And even so, the information passed on might not be up to date, accurate or comprehensive.  Further, what happens if a school employee committed a crime outside of the state for which they seek employment?

One need not look very far to find an incidents of abuse in schools where the district swore they ran background checks.  It happens all the time.  And when it does, the school either is, or acts surprised that the state check didn’t reveal past convictions.  Then, they inevitably blame the lack of proper funding to remedy the situation. What could be more important than protecting our children?

So, even though I know that it will fall of deaf ears, here is my advice for conducting the type of background check that should be used in schools.  First, all school employees from the Superintendent, to the teachers, to the janitors, to the bus drivers should be checked.  The background check should consist of a county criminal background check in each county that the candidate has resided and under each name they have used.  Next, the school should perform a National Sex Offender Registry check (for obvious reasons) and a National Criminal Records Search which can identify criminal activity committed outside the counties where someone has lived.  And then if they still want to conduct a statewide search, they can feel free to do so.

I know that as a parent, I would feel much more comfortable that our schools have done everything they can reasonably can do to protect our children and provide them with a safe learning environment.  We live in a crazy world and overwhelming majority of our school employee are there for the right reasons.  But unfortunately, there are always those that have other intentions and until they cease to exist, we need to take steps to ensure that they never step foot in a school.  Taking the steps I listed above would significantly mitigate the possibility of it happening and the schools should do everything in their power to take advantage of the tools corporations have been using for years.

Until then, I’ll keep holding my breath.

Report: Colleges increase use of criminal records to screen applicants may keep ex-cons from getting an education

A growing number of American colleges use criminal records to screen applicants, according to a Syracuse agency’s national survey.

The practice could lead to a higher crime rate because ex-cons turned away from a college education are more likely to be unemployed and desperate, according to the study by Centers for Community Alternatives.

The organization’s findings have drawn the attention of the U.S. Justice Department and Education Department in their efforts to find ways to help rehabilitated criminals rejoin society. Two of the study’s authors, Marsha Weissman and Alan Rosenthal, went to Washington, D.C., last month to brief federal officials on their study, “Reconsidered: The Use of Criminal Records in College Admissions.”

The briefing in early April at the U.S. Department of Education was with 25 to 30 people who are part of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, said Rosenthal, co-director of CCA’s Justice Strategies.

Justice Department officials told Rosenthal they’re considering a national policy statement that would warn colleges of the dangers of screening applicants by criminal record.

“It’s new and it’s quickly growing,” Rosenthal said. “The policy statement would address the concerns about a further proliferation of this practice, in terms of creating an underclass of undereducated people.”

By denying access based on criminal records, colleges could be inadvertently increasing the crime rate, because people without hope and a job are more likely to become repeat offenders, he said.

Ex-cons who’ve gone so far as to apply to college and figure out a way to pay for it are less likely to return to a life of crime, he said. And because there’s a higher proportion of black males with criminal records, the screening also affects colleges’ diversity, Rosenthal said.

Security on Campus Inc., a national organization that for 20 years has pushed for tighter security on college campuses, disagrees with CCA’s recommendation that criminal records not be considered. But the group agrees with the study’s finding that too many colleges that screen by criminal record do so with staff who are untrained in understanding the impact in a given case, said S. Daniel Carter, director of public policy for Security on Campus.

“It’s helpful information to have in the admissions process, but the mere fact that someone has a criminal background should not automatically deny them,” Carter said. He cited the study’s finding that less than half the schools that collect and use criminal background information have policies in place on how to use it, and that only 40 percent train staff in how to interpret it.

But the idea that a college shouldn’t consider an applicant’s criminal record at all doesn’t hold water, he said.

“There’s a legitimate reason for it,” Carter said. “When you’re accepted into a college community, it’s more than just to sit in a classroom and study. You’re being accepted into a community of trust and established standards.”

CCA’s 59-question survey was sent in 2009 to 3,248 institutions across the country, through CCA’s collaboration with American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. About 9 percent, 273 institutions, responded. Their identities were anonymous to CCA officials. The results showed that 66 percent collect criminal background information from applicants.

The number was much lower until about five years ago, Rosenthal said. That’s when more colleges relied on a shared application that included the question, Have you ever been convicted of a crime? he said.

One applicant who ran into trouble because of that question is Letisha Boyd. She served 16 years in prison on a manslaughter conviction for fatally shooting a woman in a fight over a man, she said. She works for an agency in New York City that helps women coming out of jail or prison get enrolled in college.

When she applied to Empire State College last year, she disclosed her conviction, but the college wanted her to get her criminal record from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, she said. That agency releases records to the person convicted, and includes charged crimes that were later dismissed. Boyd doesn’t think she should have to release those records to the college.

Boyd wants to enroll as an online student, so her criminal background should matter even less than a student applying for on-campus study, she said.

“That crime doesn’t define who you are as a person and shouldn’t affect my academic process at all,” she said. “It shouldn’t even be considered, especially because I wouldn’t even be on campus.”

Contact John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.

I had a couple thoughts rolling around in my empty head over the past couple of days and thought you’d enjoy some insight into my frontal lobe.

First and foremost, good riddance to Osama Bin Laden.  I’m sure both you and Adolph Hitler will enjoy each other’s company in a very warm spot for eternity.  I just regret that each of you were cowards in the end.  (Hitler killed himself and OBL used a woman as a human shield in his final stand.)

On t0 background checks now . . .

Issue #1

Continued news out of Brockton, MA where a student tutor was accused of raping an elementary school student.  All charges have been dropped due to lack of evidence.  Further, a CORI background check was conducted on the accused tutor and no record was found.

I hope that the school takes no solace in either of these two developments.  Their lack of proper protocol is still not excused.  They didn’t conduct a background check on this individual and it was later revealed that they failed to meet a statewide directive to rescreen all employees in 2010.

Further, I hope no one is satisfied that a CORI background check is sufficient to ensure thorough screening for school employees.  What happens if a potential employee committed a crime outside of the state of Massachusetts? (And why do I constantly need spell check to tell me how to spell Massachusetts?)

Issue #2

I wrote a post last week about my thoughts on employers’ use of social networking sites as part of the background screening process and I’ve thinking about the kind of person that has a public profile on Facebook or other similar social networks.  Thought I would express myself in an open letter (feel free to forward as you see fit).

To all mental midgets that are dumb enough make your profiles public:

You have no right to privacy when it comes to your pages.  I guess if you are dumb enough to allow the world to view your profile, you are probably the same idiot that posts the kinds of stupid things that would cause you not to get hired.

That’s all I have for now.  But I’m sure before too long another thought might emerge.  Stay tuned.

We posted a horrific story earlier this week about a Brockton, MA elementary school student who was raped by a student teacher.  Now, the school’s longtime human resource director has announced her retirement, effective at the end of the school year.

There was a lot of misinformation about whether the school had conducted a background check or not.  They have now admitted that in addition to their earlier admissions that they failed to meet their requirement of conducting a new criminal background check on all personnel in January of 2010, that they neglected to check the backgrounds on “a handful” of student teachers.

I’m sure that the oversight was not due to malice.  It’s just an unfortunate situation that might have been avoided should the school have followed through properly.  Now, a poor little girl’s life has been changed forever, the school faces what will be costly litigation along with a settlement or judgement against them (of which tax payers will no doubt foot the bill) and a well respected employee’s career has been ruined.

Our U.K. strategic partner, Verifile Ltd. has published their 2011 report on diploma and accreditation mill activity and reveals an astounding 48% increase worldwide in the number of known diploma and accreditation mills in the past year alone. As the Internet is the primary home for these bogus education and accreditation providers, little action is taken to stop them from helping unscrupulous candidates deceive unsuspecting employers. This year’s Accredibase™ report examines the current status of the diploma mill situation and considers what can be done to protect the public and businesses.

The Accredibase™ report identifies the following red flags that may help in the identification of diploma mills*:

• The institution does not have authority to operate or grant degrees from the education authorities where it claims to be based.
• Degrees are delivered in a very short space of time – sometimes just a few days.
• Degrees are granted based entirely on work or life experience.
• Contact details are limited to an email address and the institution is vague about its location.
• The institution will allow the student to choose his/her own course title and specify the graduation year to appear on the certificate.
• Sample certificates, transcripts or verification letters are available to view on the website.
• Institutions make over-complicated or misleading claims about accreditation or recognition.
• The institution’s name is similar to that of a recognised and respected education institution.
• Internet domain names are misleading – such as ‘.ac’ instead of the regulated ‘.ac.uk’ used by higher education institutions in the United Kingdom.
• The website is poorly designed, has poor spelling and grammar or it plagiarises copy from other institutions.

Verifile’s proprietary database of diploma and accreditation mills, Accredibase™, keeps track of the credential fraud industry. Verifile’s Accredibase™ has identified approximately 5000 suspect educational institutions and accreditors, including 2,615 known bogus education and accreditation providers. In addition to the huge number of confirmed mills known to Accredibase™, new suspect institutions are discovered on a daily basis – more than 2,000 are currently under investigation by Accredibase™ for inclusion in the database.

Download the full report

Move over Marilee Jones, you have some company.  For those of you who don’t remember, Marilee Jones was the Director of Admissions at M.I.T. and was caught lying on her resume a few years back.  Colleges and Universities have long been known for their lax approach to screening employees, fortunately in the last few years many of them have stepped up their efforts.  The latest blunder has Texas A&M University reviewing its current hiring practices after an administrator now admits lying on his resume.

Ex-A&M administrator admits lying on resume

BRYAN, Texas — A former Texas A&M University administrator who quit in June amid questions about padding his resume has pleaded guilty and been fined $2,000.

Alexander Kemos on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Bryan to a misdemeanor charge of using a fraudulent, substandard or fictitious degree. He also must pay court costs.

Kemos attorney Jim James says his client admits adding to his resume in violation of the law and regrets the incident. James says the 50-year-old Kemos also says no one at A&M knew of the false portions of his resume.

Kemos, who was hired in 2009, was senior vice president for administration. He falsely claimed to be a former Navy SEAL with advanced degrees from Tufts University.

A&M is auditing its hiring practices.

Full Story

WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of the 2004 murder of a student at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, by a classmate with a history of violence against women, the deceased student’s family came to see the decision-making of the university’s admissions office as one of the major factors leading to her death.

After a lawsuit, the North Carolina system began requiring all 11 of its campuses to conduct criminal background checks on students whose records raise red flags. As a panel discussion Wednesday at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Attorneys here made clear, North Carolina is not alone. At institutions across the country, admissions officers and student affairs administrators are starting to consider conducting criminal background checks on applicants or admitted students in an extra step toward campus safety.

But the questions of whether and how to conduct student background checks are anything but resolved. The panel included a law professor who has studied the use of criminal background checks in admissions, an administrator from UNC-Wilmington who’s been involved in implementing the system’s policy, and a determined opponent of using checks during the admissions process.

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As important as it is to conduct a background check on potential new hires, it is just as important to ensure your employees are staying out of trouble once they are  hired. 

A Texas Charter School teacher has been fired and now faces criminal charges stemming from an incident caught on video of her assaulting one of her 13-year-old students.  A warrant had been issued for this teacher’s arrest over a year before the assault occurred for criminal mischief - she is accused of slashing another woman’s tires in January of 2009.  If the Charter School had a policy in place to re-check their employees’ background annually, they would have learned of the warrant and taken the appropriate action.  Perhaps then this unfortunate incident would not have occurred.

Charter Teacher Who Beat Student Was Wanted

(May 13) — The Houston charter school teacher caught on a cell-phone video beating a 13-year-old student was wanted on a criminal mischief charge, accused of slashing a woman’s tires last year.

Sheri Lynn Davis, 40, was fired Monday by Jamie’s House Charter School. However, she won’t lose her teaching certificate because she never had one, the Houston Chronicle reported. Texas law states that only bilingual and special education teachers must be certified in order to work at charter schools. Davis is a science teacher.

Davis taught at the charter school for more than a year while a warrant was out for her arrest, stemming from the alleged tire slashing in January 2009. Davis is scheduled to appear in court on that criminal mischief charge, a misdemeanor, on Tuesday, according to Houston’s KRIV-TV. 

She lost her job after school administrators saw a cell phone video recorded by one of her students in late April that showed her slapping and kicking 13-year-old Isaiah Johnson, then dragging him across the floor and slamming his head into a wall. The boy’s mother, Alesha Johnson, said Isaiah suffered a black eye and other bruises in the attack.

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We talk a lot about criminal background checks and checking diploma mill lists prior to employment. Check out this guy.  He lied to get into the college to get a degree he didn’t deserve!  He lied about test scores and accomplishments to get grants and scholarships.  He plagiarized papers to win awards.  This guy might be the single biggest liar I have ever read about.  He’s like the Frank Abagnale of the 21st century.  Now, Wheeler is now facing 20 counts, including larceny, falsifying an
endorsement, identity fraud, and pretending to hold a degree. The article states thee four larceny charges are felony counts that each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Alleged Harvard Fake Applied at The New Republic
Adam Wheeler Claimed 4.0 Grade Point Average on Internship Application to Publication that Once Featured Faker Stephen Glass

Former Harvard student Adam Wheeler, 23, pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied to get into the Ivy League institution. Prosecutors claimed Tuesday in a Massachusetts court that those say those lies ultimately allowed him to steal $45,000 in grants, scholarship money, and financial aid.

John Verner, prosecutor, said in court Tuesday, “Since Mr. Wheeler began at Harvard, he has lived a life of lies and deceit.”

Even after being caught and kicked out of Harvard, Wheeler actually tried to transfer to Brown University and Yale. His parents, who attended the hearing, forced their son to come clean, and notify Yale that he had been booted from Harvard.

Verner said, “If it wasn’t for his parents’ intervention, Mr. Wheeler’s pathological behavior wouldn’t have stopped.”

Wheeler’s behavior allegedly started on his Harvard application. Wheeler claimed he got a perfect 1,600 on his SAT, had attended the exclusive Phillips Academy prep school, and spent a year at MIT. CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reported prosecutors say all claims are false.

Quijano added Wheeler recently Wheeler applied for an internship at the New Republic magazine, claiming a 4.0 grade point average while at Harvard.

The New Republic is where rising star writer Stephen Glass was exposed for making things up in his articles.

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See his fake resume below: