Prints Detect Few Teachers With Troubles Fingerprinting Started In July To Uncover Criminal Patterns

Few problem teachers were uncovered during the first year that criminal background checks were required for Idaho public school employees.

The fingerprinting, aimed at weeding out criminals, started on July 1, 1996. Since then, nearly 20,000 sets of prints were processed, according to Roger Hanshew of the Department of Education’s professional standards office.

About half of those were teachers. Of those 10,000, only half a dozen had been convicted of crimes that were serious enough to get the attention of the Professional Standards Commission.

Some of those people received letters of reprimand for having violated their professional code of ethics, Hanshew said.

Charges included embezzlement, or repeated misdemeanor offenses.

“DUIs, bouncing checks, petty theft. When a person gets a series of that stuff, the commissioners take a look,” said Hanshew. “They ask, ‘How long ago did the event happen? Was it last year, or 20-30 years ago? What was the severity, and what has the person done with their life in the meantime?”’

Sex-related crimes, a big point of public concern, were not uncovered. That didn’t surprise Hanshew.

“The likelihood of catching a pedophile or someone like that is very small, because those people haven’t been discovered yet,” he said.

If they have been caught and convicted, they’re no longer on the job, he said.

Up to 98 percent of the teachers had no records at all, Hanshew said. “We’re real pleased about that.”

In a normal year, the education department will screen about 2,400 employees.

The Professional Standards Commission only oversees teachers and other professionals, such as counselors and principals, who must have a state certificate.

Other employees, such as clerks and janitors, are considered “classified.” The results of their background checks are sent directly to the school districts.

The Coeur d’Alene School District, for example, fingerprinted 648 employees, 321 of them classified. No problems were discovered, said spokeswoman Janet Feiler.

Everyone who had been employed by the schools since 1991 had to be fingerprinted, under the new law. Next year, the Department of Education may go back to the Legislature seeking a few changes, said Hanshew.

One change would allow substitute teachers to be fingerprinted in only one school district, rather than every district in which they work.

The department might also ask that criminal checks be required every five years, when teachers renew their state certificates.

“The fact that I was fingerprinted today doesn’t mean I won’t make some stupid mistake tomorrow,” said Hanshew. “If I go to Hawaii, get a little crazy on my summer break and kick up my heels, that may never get back to the school district.”

The five-year suggestion may run into opposition from the Idaho Education Association.

“It’s been our position all along that those who have proven themselves don’t have to do it again,” said Gayle Moore, communications director for the teachers’ union.

Teachers have largely supported fingerprinting as a way of protecting children. Many objected to paying $40 for the process, however.

Many districts did not pick up the tab for the background checks.

, DataTimes