Background Checks on School Personnel. ERIC Digest Series EA 55. It's relatively simple to check on the basic professional competency of someone applying to work at your school. Applicants typically come with a trail of credentials, licenses, and employer references. Given that kind of record, many lawmakers and educators emphasize applicant privacy rights in the investigation of potential employees.
Smaller districts rely more on references and informal sources.
Larger systems tend to use bureaucratized procedures, including criminal record checks. These districts are more apt to allow employees to start working before all the checking is concluded and may have more difficulty in detecting and rejecting unsuitable applicants. A third party, such as a parent, can sue the district if employees are hired without thorough background checks and then commit a crime of any sort. This issue received attention from a U.S. district court in a Cleveland, Oklahoma, case. Many states have made FBI checks mandatory for teacher certification.