Columbia Public Schools strengthens its background check policy
The Columbia Public Schools Board of Education updated its policy for criminal background checks of faculty and employees with the district.
The Missouri School Boards’ Association is revising the policy in order to be consistent with a new law passed in 2017 that requires public employers such as school districts to notify relevant retirement systems when an employee or former employee is charged or convicted of certain offenses that are related to their position within the district.
Under the law, those employees would have to forfeit retirement benefits if they used their position for criminal purposes.
Additionally, MSBA has revised its policy to comply with a 2018 House bill that changed school district reporting requirements relating to employment screenings and how that information is shared with the state and federal governments.
There is also a new Rap Back program to consider. “Rap” stands for “record of arrest and prosecution.”
Under the program, districts would get automatic and ongoing criminal history updates about individuals who have been fingerprinted, even after their original criminal background checks.
Last year, then CPS Chief Financial Officer Anna Munson was indicted for receiving stolen property during her time as a band boosters treasurer in St. Louis.
Around the same time as the indictment, she resigned from the CPS district, citing personal reasons.
ABC 17 News asked spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark if the ongoing background checks would ping instances like Munson’s indictment and arrest.
“Yes absolutely, at least that’s the intent now of the Rap Back program,” she said “Should there be an arrest of an employee, an existing employee, the district would receive notification of that.”
Supporting documents included in the board members’ information packet indicate that the district should be “cautious” about how this information is used because not all arrests lead to charges or convictions.
“We really want to make sure that we have knowledge of the incident occurring, and then take the appropriate actions based on where we are in that particular process,” said Baumstark. “An arrest doesn’t necessarily equate to guilt.”
Employees would have to be fingerprinted by the district, even if they recently had that done by another employer. They also have to update their fingerprints every three years, or the system will no longer be able to provide updates about that employee.
Baumstark said the district already does this on a semi-frequent basis.
“A lot of our employees went through an additional round of background checks even within the last year so it’s something for us, as a school district, that we feel is important,” she said. “We want to make sure that we’re always doing our due dilligence when it comes to that.”
Volunteers will also be subject to the same background checks in accordance with district policy.
