Saturday, January 15, 2000
Law would ID criminal teachers
Better background checks urged
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Cincinnati police arrested a popular teacher accused of improperly touching some of his sixth-graders at Heberle Elementary last February, his colleagues were stunned.
It might not have come as such a surprise had they known that the teacher had faced similar sex charges more than a decade earlier in Covington.
The teacher, William J. Gray, was found guilty Monday of sexual imposition, a misdemeanor, for touching a sixth-grade boy's genitals.
Such cases are why one Ohio lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require school districts to more thoroughly investigate the backgrounds of aspiring teachers and others who want to work in schools.
State Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, says school districts should use checks similar to those by business to weed out applicants who use false identities, lie or hopscotch the coun try to hide histories.
Deeper checks could prevent what some call “passing the trash” — when school districts allow lawbreakers to resign in lieu of prosecution, Sen. Hottinger said.
“We have an epidemic of people being employed without being checked out very well,”
said William R. Mason Jr., vice president of School Match, a Columbus-based school safety, research and consulting firm that convinced Sen. Hottinger to introduce the bill.
“More than half of all Fortune 500 companies use these (expanded) checks. Why is it more important to check out the parents of these kids than it is to check out the people we want to teach and protect these kids?”
A 1993 state law requires school districts to dismiss employees — or reject job applicants — who have been convicted of one of 46 crimes. Most involve sex, drugs and violence. The law also allows the state to revoke, suspend or deny certification for “conduct unbecoming the position of a teacher.”
Kentucky requires national and state checks through the FBI and Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross said.
Under Ohio's law, the Ohio Department of Education yanked the licenses of 65 teachers last year and 76 in 1998, including several from Cincinnati.
Offenses ranged from welfare fraud to voluntary manslaughter. Forty percent involved theft charges; 33 percent, fraud or falsification; 20 percent, sex offenses; 10 percent, drugs.The figures add up to more than 100 percent because some teachers were charged with more than offense.
But with nearly 400,000 licensed teachers statewide and another 10,900 receiving certificates last year, experts say, many districts barely keep up with background checks and more offenders might lurk in the teaching ranks.
Districts now check applicants' records with the FBI and Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. Those checks uncover criminal convictions, but they often don't detect outstanding warrants, expunged charges or other problems.
Under Sen. Hottinger's bill, an independent agency hired by the state would investigate an applicant's:
• Social Security number to ensure an applicant hasn't falsified his or her identity.
• Employment history. Interviews with previous supervisors would verify an applicant's job history and measure past performance.
• Motor-vehicle records.
• Public records including records of civil litigation.
• Criminal records for felo ny and misdemeanor convictions for up to 10 addresses in up to three counties in any state for the seven years before the background check is requested.
Applicants for teaching jobs would be required to pay for the checks, which wouldn't exceed $100. For the 3,500 people who apply each year for such non-teaching jobs as custodians and bus drivers, the state would foot the cost, estimated to be $350,000.
The bill is pending in the Senate's education committee.
Deeper checks would have alerted Cincinnati Public Schools officials to Mr. Gray's troubles in Covington.
Mr. Gray, hired by CPS in 1994, faced felony sex-abuse charges in Kenton Circuit Court in 1987 after four of his third-grade students at John G. Carlisle School said he fondled them.
One trial ended in a hung jury in August 1987. He was acquitted in a second trial. And because the court later granted his request for an expungement, CPS officials say, they never learned about the Covington case when they did his pre-employment background check. But details of his troubles were contained in his school personnel records.
Mr. Gray was found guilty Monday in the Cincinnati case. Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Jack Rosen convicted Mr. Gray of sexual imposition, a misdemeanor, for touching a sixth-grade boy's genitals. He was acquitted of other counts involving allegations that he touched several boys' buttocks.
His license has not been suspended or revoked. ODE Spokeswoman Patti Grey said ODE needs documentation of criminal convictions before starting the disciplinary process.
His attorney, Scott Croswell, couldn't be reached.
City attorney Frances Sheard, who prosecuted Mr. Gray in the Cincinnati case, said everything in a person's background — even acquittals — should be known when children are involved.
“There should be more stringent background checks, not just for teachers but for anyone who goes near a school, because you are locking them in a building all day every day with children.”
Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen agreed: “You just can't be too careful with children. Anything we can do to protect them and make sure the people who are teaching have their best interests in mind, we should do.”
The bill doesn't have unanimous support, however.
Ohio Education Association President Michael Billirakis complained that requiring applicants to pay for their background checks is a financial burden, especially for young college graduates with school loans. The association represents 122,000 teachers and other school employees.
He also raised concerns about privacy.
“Children's safety is very important, and we want the best and safest situation in every classroom,” he said. “But we have to make sure the law is not so broad that it violates the privacy of teachers. The world doesn't need to know that you had a bankruptcy or a bad divorce.”
Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman said she would support expanded checks but said Sen. Hottinger's bill doesn't — and should — address teachers who become lawbreakers.
Since the early 1980s, state law has required prosecutors to report criminal teachers to ODE.
But some cases fall through the cracks. Requiring checks when teachers' licenses are up for renewal would help screen for those scofflaws, Ms. Zelman said.
One supporter emphasized that any hint of a tarnished past should cause hesitation in hiring.
“Schools are not a social-service institution,” School Match's Mr. Rosen said. “They're not there to hire people and give them jobs. they're there to teach and protect kids.
“If you had two apparently equal job candidates, and one's record looks like it could be blemished, who are you going to select? Why would you gamble?”
One parent wishes lawmakers nationally would embrace more stringent checks.
Carol Gibbs' daughter attended a Cincinnati public school when its principal resigned after allegations of improper contact with male students. He wasn't charged. Ms. Gibbs said she heard he left the state and wondered where he works now.
“The union and the district should demand that these checks be made,” said Ms. Gibbs, whose daughter is now in college. “Pedophiles can go from state to state and molest kids in schools and not get caught.”
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