BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts school districts have started fingerprinting teachers, administrators, bus drivers and other employees for national background checks.
The effort officially began this month in a handful of districts, with all school systems to follow in the coming weeks.
Massachusetts is the last state to fingerprint school employees to more fully search for past criminal activities, education officials said.
“It’s a little overdue,” Jeff Wulfson, a deputy commissioner at the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told The Boston Globe.
Chapter 459 of the Acts of 2012 amends Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 15D, Section 7, and requires that “fingerprint-based checks of the state and national criminal history databases” be performed as a condition of license fingerprint-based checks of the state and national criminal history databases “for all applicants for employment who have the potential for unsupervised contact with children in any department approved program” which includes “any household member or person regularly on the premises, age 15 or older, in a family child care program” or “any prospective foster or adoptive parent.”
In Westfield, the school department’s director of human resources, Jennifer Willard, said that although the city school department is not one of the volunteer districts trying out the system, the city department is ready to comply.
“As soon as we get word from the state” about when and where the teachers will be fingerprinted “we are ready to go as soon as they tell us what to do.”
Willard said that where to send teachers to be fingerprinted is one of the questions she is waiting for an answer for from state officials. Fingerprinting centers have been established in Beverly, Boston, Bourne and Pittsfield, and more are planned.
“Hopefully, one will be closer than Pittsfield,” she said.
At the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District staffers are also waiting for information from the state. The superintendent, John Barry, said “When we get a little more information we’re going to be moving forward to do what we have to do to comply with the law.”
The fingerprints will be sent to the FBI, which will run the information through its databases, enabling schools to receive criminal histories from outside Massachusetts and improving the chances of identifying staffers with criminal pasts. If districts find any questionable information from the FBI reports, they could move to fire the employee.
Previously, local districts only had access to Massachusetts criminal records.
Teachers’ union officials don’t oppose the fingerprinting, but they do oppose the processing fee of $55 for licensed educators and $35 for other employees.
Willard said “right now, individuals have to pay for their own fingerprinting “and pointed out that teachers and other licensed employees routinely pay for their licensure costs.
In addition to the teachers, the requirement applies to any school department employees or contractors who might be alone with children such as bus drivers, custodial staff or household members of licensed family day care facilities who are older than 15 year-of-age.
Statewide, teachers are asking the districts to pick up the cost.
“It doesn’t seem like our members should have to pay to prove their innocence,” Boston Teachers Union President Richard Stutman said. Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said his organization opposes efforts to have districts pay the costs.
A Westfield Education Association spokesperson did not return a request for comment prior to press time.
Carl E. Hartdegen contributed to this story.
