Abi, I was glad to finally see this list come out. I blew a nut when I found out that these checks had not been done 'til now when this came out in December I think.
Our schools in our town have none on the list; and they did say they did do checks. We'll never know if this was the first time, it's irrevelant isn't it?
I put my application and resume into both local school systems and had to sign a background check paper. I have to do that every year for College anyway, but was relieved to see the public schools FINALLY doing it too.
I also work as an employee of a school district where I to was checked and fingerprinted before hire! This is fairly new, they have been doing it for about 3-4 yrs. that I know of.
Where do you find this info and how can I check my area.
I don't know if Michigan has the equivalent of Megan's Law like CA does - but if it does you should check by zipcode - and if your child goes to a school in a zip code other than where you live double check - frankly I was amazed (probably should not have been after reading the FAQ's) at how many live close to schools and parks.
Well depending on what the convictions are - don't some these people perhaps deserve a second chance in life? Are they to be ostracized for the rest of their natural life on earth for mistakes they made, for which they already did time? (with the understandable exception, of course, of child molestors and violent criminals, which shouldn't be near kids).
But what of some schmuck who got caught and tossed into prison as a teen for smoking a joint (or any number of minor offences along those lines), which may or may be reflected in that list?
Agreed Danny, my arguement wasn't completely with what they found in the background checks, but that they didn't do them prior.
Some of the offenses are minor, indeed, or as you suggest perhaps foolish mistakes make at another time in one's life. Also bugged me that the teachers didn't answer the question honestly on the application where it says "have you even been convicted of a crime...."
I just didn't like that they were basically forced to do them, balked about the dollars (during my conversation with the superintendent) and led us to believe they had been done.
Now that all that is public in our state, they are saying there is some error. Some are on there that shouldn't be. Does that mean their records have been expunged; I don't know. I do know that this was one of the concerns when they were given a deadline to gather and make public the information.
Again IMO it's about honesty. People make mistakes, absolutely. Teachers are held to differant standards and some parents would prefer to know a little something about who is in that classroom.
We've one teacher who was recently in an altercation over property lines and he was found guilty. Parents, the board, the community chose to believe him and not hold it against him. It was unfortunate that this part of his life had to be made so public, as you would likely agree.
As well, as the article says, the schools can now make the decisions on who stays regardless of their being on that list.
We've one parent that calls the police everytime the principal looks crosseyed at his daughter. That's a mess in the making.
None of the teachers in our district were on the list, but at least they checked them out, just in case. Our district said they 'knew none would be as we have educators above reproach'. While this may be true in the eyes of those that hired them and pay them, we wanted to see for ourselves, given the way of the world today.
Sure better to err on the side of caution than to try to recover, or worse find recovery for a child, later.
I have been finger printed and gone through state and national FBI checks for jobs in childcare.It was a state requirement, handled through DFS. In fact, I did a home child care center for several years and had to have my husband run through the same process.
I think the laws differ from state to state.
Our schools keep a book of sexual preditor flyers that are sent to mailing addresses in a neighborhood when a convicted sexual preditor moves in. We can access it in the school office.
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Shellon
Abi, I was glad to finally see this list come out. I blew a nut when I found out that these checks had not been done 'til now when this came out in December I think.
Our schools in our town have none on the list; and they did say they did do checks. We'll never know if this was the first time, it's irrevelant isn't it?
I put my application and resume into both local school systems and had to sign a background check paper. I have to do that every year for College anyway, but was relieved to see the public schools FINALLY doing it too.
Sheesh
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Ca_dreaming
I also work as an employee of a school district where I to was checked and fingerprinted before hire! This is fairly new, they have been doing it for about 3-4 yrs. that I know of.
Where do you find this info and how can I check my area.
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RumRunner
I don't know if Michigan has the equivalent of Megan's Law like CA does - but if it does you should check by zipcode - and if your child goes to a school in a zip code other than where you live double check - frankly I was amazed (probably should not have been after reading the FAQ's) at how many live close to schools and parks.
http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov
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TheInvisibleDan
Well depending on what the convictions are - don't some these people perhaps deserve a second chance in life? Are they to be ostracized for the rest of their natural life on earth for mistakes they made, for which they already did time? (with the understandable exception, of course, of child molestors and violent criminals, which shouldn't be near kids).
But what of some schmuck who got caught and tossed into prison as a teen for smoking a joint (or any number of minor offences along those lines), which may or may be reflected in that list?
Danny
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Shellon
Agreed Danny, my arguement wasn't completely with what they found in the background checks, but that they didn't do them prior.
Some of the offenses are minor, indeed, or as you suggest perhaps foolish mistakes make at another time in one's life. Also bugged me that the teachers didn't answer the question honestly on the application where it says "have you even been convicted of a crime...."
I just didn't like that they were basically forced to do them, balked about the dollars (during my conversation with the superintendent) and led us to believe they had been done.
Now that all that is public in our state, they are saying there is some error. Some are on there that shouldn't be. Does that mean their records have been expunged; I don't know. I do know that this was one of the concerns when they were given a deadline to gather and make public the information.
Again IMO it's about honesty. People make mistakes, absolutely. Teachers are held to differant standards and some parents would prefer to know a little something about who is in that classroom.
We've one teacher who was recently in an altercation over property lines and he was found guilty. Parents, the board, the community chose to believe him and not hold it against him. It was unfortunate that this part of his life had to be made so public, as you would likely agree.
As well, as the article says, the schools can now make the decisions on who stays regardless of their being on that list.
We've one parent that calls the police everytime the principal looks crosseyed at his daughter. That's a mess in the making.
None of the teachers in our district were on the list, but at least they checked them out, just in case. Our district said they 'knew none would be as we have educators above reproach'. While this may be true in the eyes of those that hired them and pay them, we wanted to see for ourselves, given the way of the world today.
Sure better to err on the side of caution than to try to recover, or worse find recovery for a child, later.
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Bramble
I have been finger printed and gone through state and national FBI checks for jobs in childcare.It was a state requirement, handled through DFS. In fact, I did a home child care center for several years and had to have my husband run through the same process.
I think the laws differ from state to state.
Our schools keep a book of sexual preditor flyers that are sent to mailing addresses in a neighborhood when a convicted sexual preditor moves in. We can access it in the school office.
Schools should certainly do background checks.
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