Hot for Teacher - background checks, that is

The Austin American-Statesman wants the results of background checks conducted by the Austin School Board, but the school board and the The Association of Texas Professional Educators doesn’t want to give it to them.  The District Attorney apparently ruled that “part of the information was not exempt from the public information laws.”    Now the association has filed a lawsuit to withold this information. 

“While we had certainly hoped that the district and the attorney general’s office would have respected the privacy of individual citizens, we’re now forced to file suit to protect the fundamental rights of AISD employees,” said Doug Rogers, the group’s executive director.

Read the full article here:

While the courts decide the issue, it’s worth discussing what’s at stake here.   The trouble with protecting public records about teachers in a public school is that the students of citizens attend these schools.  It seems that the public has a right to the results of the background checks conducted on the teachers, at least the ”public records” portion, such as criminal background history, civil background history, liens, judgments, etc. 

The importance of background checks in public school cannot be igored.  In light of the litigation involved in the Roman Catholic church scandal over abuse inside the church, any organization must be aware of the potental fallout of negligent hiring and not running background checks on your employees.  School need to screen all employees of the school system, not just teachers. 

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