Teachers well vetted before hiring, districts say

In the past week, two area educators facing felony sexual misconduct charges pleaded guilty to misdemeanors that were not sex-related, and were sentenced to relinquish their teaching licenses for a year.

Their pleas raise the issue of whether the men might be able to get a job in area schools after the year is up, considering that their misdemeanor no longer makes any mention of sexual misconduct.

Parents can rest easy, state and local education officials say: It would be tough to slide into a job in a Pikes Peak-region school district with any kind of serious criminal record.

Even parents and community volunteers are placed under increasing scrutiny if they want to spend time in area classrooms.

"As a result of tragic events, of which we have had more than our share in Colorado, we are safer than when I first went into education in 1995," said Cheryl Wangeman, assistant superintendent in Lewis-Palmer School District 38, which employed one of the educators. "We hire an outside firm to do background checks. It shows many things, including arrest records and criminal history. We are looking for those engaged in any activity - not just sexual abuse - that we would not want to have around children, including things like identity theft."

While education officials declined to discuss specifics of the two local cases, they said that as long as a person's criminal record is not sealed, the misdemeanor conviction and the arrest record with the more serious charges will show up in a background check.

In addition, a new Colorado law requires school districts to notify the Colorado Department of Education of any misconduct complaints against teachers who resign or are dismissed, whether criminal charges are filed or not. Disciplinary actions taken against teachers are posted in a national database to which other states have access.

There have been 375 disciplinary actions against Colorado teachers since 1995, including 75 sexual assaults on children, CDE records show.
The rules for getting a teaching license in Colorado have become increasingly stringent since background checks were initiated in the early 1990s.

School districts rely heavily on the CDE process to ensure potential employees have been vetted. But most also do additional checks, and they're required to call previous employers.

Both Lewis-Palmer District 38 and Academy School District 20, for example, do another layer of checks on teacher applicants.
"Our process at Academy is a little bit more strict than most other school districts," said Bob Cohn, D-20 attorney. "We do a CBI check and we do our own FBI check - sending fingerprints to the FBI."

If any record of crimes or complaints comes up, the applicant is called in to discuss it, Cohn said. The district follows general guidelines, including never hiring people with a sexual offense on their record.

"If someone had a DUI 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't pay much attention to it, unless they were applying for a transportation job," he said.

He said they also check many classroom volunteers.

Officials at other districts have similar guidelines. A previous criminal conviction doesn't necessarily shut the door to a teaching job or a support job. But human resource officials generally require an up-front discussion of what happened.

Colorado Springs School District 11,which employed the other recently convicted teacher, uses the CDE's background check for teachers, but does its own on applicants for support jobs and some volunteers, said Al Trujillo, an investigator with the district's security department.
The fingerprints of all support job applicants are sent to the CBI and the FBI, and the district uses a Colorado court database that shows arrests, pending cases and convictions as well, Trujillo said.

The same process is used for volunteers whose work is unsupervised by staff, said LouAnn Dekleva, director of volunteer services. If the person has any felony or misdemeanor convictions that involve crimes against children, they can never volunteer, she said.

Dekleva said the district insurance carrier requires it to do random background checks on 10 percent of its volunteers - which means about 50 checks per month. The volunteers are computer-selected, fingerprinted and checked by CBI at a cost of $5 per check, she said.
"We might have two or three criminal records pop up each year," she said. "If it's older than five years, we ignore it unless it's a child abuse offense."

Trujillo said that many prospective employees come in with military clearances or checks from other districts, but that the district runs its own check.

"Somebody will say, ‘I've got a top secret clearance' and I say, ‘That's great. We're going to check you anyway.'"
While the checks are more rigorous than they were in the past, they're not foolproof.

If a job applicant has no criminal or disciplinary record - and national statistics show that sexual abusers often have multiple victims before they're reported - there's nothing for investigators to find.

THE LAW SAYS ...
Colorado law pertaining to school background checks:
• All prospective teachers must reveal felonies or misdemeanors when they undergo licensing by the Colorado Department of Education on an "oath and consent" form, including any finding of guilt by jury or court.
• Applicants must submit fingerprints to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which checks them with the state and FBI criminal data bases.
• Employees of school districts are subject to background checks. But it is up to the particular school district to decide if it wants to check volunteers and school board members.
• The Colorado Department of Education stores information about disciplinary actions taken, as well as information reported by other states to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. The CDE's database is used as part of the licensing and hiring process.
• When the Colorado Bureau of Investigation receives additional information on someone who had a fingerprint check, school districts must cross-check its employee list with the update and take action, if necessary.
• Colorado schools are required by law to contact previous employers of those they consider hiring. Colorado employers are provided with legal immunity for any revelations as long as the information given is factual.
• Licenses can be denied, suspended or revoked if a teacher is found guilty or accepts a guilty plea for a variety of felonies or misdemeanors, including child abuse. The CDE has authority to take disciplinary action based on the underlying conduct of those cases if the behavior is considered unethical, regardless of outcome.
• A law enacted earlier this year requires school districts to report complaints against teachers to the CDE within 10 days of a resignation or dismissal.
• While some states have been faulted for allowing teachers to move from school to school because of confidentiality agreements, this is not the case in Colorado under the new law. School districts can't enter into a legal settlement agreement that would restrict them from sharing relevant information related to a child abuse or sexual offense.
• When CDE denies, suspends or revokes a license because the applicant was convicted of felony child abuse or unlawful sexual behavior, the department must release the name of that person to the public.
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Contact the Writers: 636-0251 or sue.mcmillin@gazette.com; 636-0371 or carol.mcgraw@gazette.com