TX- Teachers To Be Fingerprinted

7-28-2008 Texas:

Fingerprinting of employees of school districts will begin soon at three area schools.

Hillsboro, West and Whitney teachers will be fingerprinted in August, when a contractor hired by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) comes to their campuses to begin the process.

As a part of Senate Bill 9 passed by the Texas Legislature in 2007, all school-district employees in the state must be fingerprinted and undergo a criminal-background check.

Districts have been conducting criminal-background checks on employees for years, but reports of convicted sex offenders working under assumed names prompted the change in the law.

TEA is focusing first on certified employees in the public-school system.

Hillsboro ISD Human Resources Director Barbara Robinson said that 158 certified staff members will need to be fingerprinted, along with 14 certified substitutes.

She said that 87 non-certified staff members and 30 uncertified substitutes will be fingerprinted at a later date.

The contractor, L-1 Identity Solutions, is scheduled to be in Hillsboro Friday, August 8, then again Monday through Thursday, August 11 - 14.

Teachers in the three districts must have their background checks completed within 80 days that their information is uploaded to TEA.

Employees in Hillsboro to be fingerprinted in the first round must have their written verification that they are clear by September 28, or they will not be allowed to teach in a classroom, according to Mrs. Robinson.

“They tell us that it may take up to 14 days to process a criminal-history record,” she explained. “If that isn’t completed and the written verification on file, TEA will mark their certificates with an inactive status.”

Teachers who were certified after 2003 already have their fingerprints on file with the state.

There are 73 certified educators and two certified substitutes who will not need to be fingerprinted, according to the director.

Teachers who do not come to have their fingerprints made while the contractor is in the district will have to go to the contractor’s Waco facility, located at 6801 Sanger Avenue, Suite 201.

Locations and links to schedule an appointment online are available at www.l1id.com/pages/190-texas-locations.

Whitney teachers will be fingerprinted during the same days as Hillsboro ISD educators.

For more information about the visit to Whitney, call the district’s central office at 254-694-2254.

The contractor will be in West Friday August 1, and Monday through Thursday, August 4 - 7.

Staff in the West ISD should call the district’s central office at 254-826-7500 to verify when they should come in for fingerprinting. ..News Source.. by The Hillsboro Reporter