Background checks turn up 256 criminal records in Austin district
Mar 10, 2008 12:34 PM
The Austin (Texas) school district has fingerprinted about two-thirds
of its 6,600 certified educators, and criminal histories have popped up for 256
employees after a search of a national crime database. Checks as of Feb. 20
found that 15 educators had felony criminal records, while the other 241 had
misdemeanor criminal records. Because of a new law, Austin is the first district
in the state to fingerprint its certified educators, including administrators
and substitute teachers.
Click here to read The
Austin American-Statesman article.
FROM FEBRUARY 2008: The massive undertaking of fingerprinting more than
11,000 San Antonio educators is already causing problems, creating
backlogs and causing frustration in local schools. Fingerprinting school
district employees has begun in the Northside and North East districts,
the city's two largest school systems. Officials in both districts say that
repeated equipment failure, technology problems and staffing issues are wasting
teachers' time and making the process take much longer than anticipated.
Click here to read The
San Antonio Express-News article.
FROM DECEMBER 2007: The Austin (Texas) school district will be first in the state to try a fingerprinting system that requires public school employees to have national criminal background checks. Under a new state law, an estimated 392,000 Texas employees need to submit their fingerprints to the Texas Education Agency. All certified educators, including administrators and substitute teachers, must submit their fingerprints by September 2011. State officials say using Austin as a test site will allow them to tweak the rules and procedures as needed. (The Austin American-Statesman)
