Background check targets not attainable

In Brockton, MA, background checks have not been performed on teachers and other school employees in more than three years, putting the department in violation of state law. The revelation comes less than a week after School Committee members said they were assured that the department was in compliance with state laws regarding employee background checks.

Although we are singling out Brockton here, failing to achieve background check targets set by the authorities is a nationwide problem which seems no nearer to being solved. So what is the cause of the problem, and what is the solution?

Primarily, it is time and money. While, on the whole, new teachers are checked, re-checking current teachers seems to a lower priority – and this obviously brings statistics down. With limited time, and an ever-increasing number of teachers to be checked, the “to-do” list builds quicker than it can be depleted. While new hires are rightly being prioritized, this simply leaves no time for the rest.

So why not hire more individuals to perform background checks? Well, it’s all about money. Ideally yes, more people would be hired and they could then swiftly work through performing all the necessary checks, but with state budgets incredibly tight at this time, it is claimed that the money is simply not available.

The claim of whether the money is available, however, depends on which side of the fence you sit. In a literal sense, the money is there – background checks for teachers just isn’t considered by the authorities as deserving as other aspects of society to receive any more of the budget. And this is the root of the problem. Until we start placing our children first, and making their safety a priority, these resources will never be available.