They're not necessarily looking for any skeletons in their employees' closets, but Alpine School District leaders are trying to ensure their students' safety.
Members of the Alpine School Board unanimously approved recently a policy requiring all prospective employees to submit to a criminal background check and provide fingerprint identification for that check. The Alpine district will not employ applicants who have been convicted of a felony in the state or elsewhere.Also, volunteer workers who have unlimited access to students and some present employees - where reasonable cause exists - are subject to the background review.
To enforce the policy, the district will not consider employment applications from those unwilling to undergo the background checks. And current employees who are found to have been convicted of a felony could be subject to disciplinary measures or termination.
Fingerprint information, as well as other information from the prospective employees, will be sent to the FBI, where officials will conduct a nationwide records search of any prior criminal activity in the applicant's past.
Current state legislation concerning hiring practices, as well as increasing concern for student safety, led to the new policy, District Superintendent Steve Baugh said.
"This policy does, in fact, place a increased burden on our personnel department and on the prospective employees themselves," Baugh said. "It's unfortunate that we have to subject potential or present employees to this type of scrutiny, but the safety and well-being of our students must come first."
The new policy accompanies the district's existing personnel and hiring policies. It is also a refinement of an older policy.
In addition to the first section of the policy, which makes the check a condition of employment prior to making an offer of employment, it includes several provisions outlining specific procedures involved with the policy and defines the rights and responsibilities of the prospective employees.