DOE looks to expand on background checks

DOE looks to expand on background checks - The Honolulu Advertiser: "The Department of Education hopes to expand its policy mandating criminal background checks of employees by requiring the same kind of scrutiny for student teachers as well as subcontractors or service providers for the public schools.

Proposed legislation prepared for the coming legislative session would include people who work close to children but who are not covered by the current law that requires criminal background checks for all employees.

The proposal was prompted in part by a scathing state audit of Kailua High School in September last year, which said, in part, that the school had been lax in seeing criminal background checks completed on coaches hired during the 2005-06 school year. The audit noted the three-month service of a head coach who had been convicted of murder plus three others convicted of lesser offenses, including drunken driving.

The DOE has since raised questions about the audit, but the speed and timeliness of background checks are still an issue. The audit prompted the DOE to scrutinize its system for other shortcomings, but despite repeated requests by The Advertiser, no comprehensive findings have been released.

State law does not allow the DOE to do criminal background checks of student teachers or subcontractors, and that 'raises concerns regarding "