In a step to make school children even safer, Governor Granholm recently amended a law regarding criminal history checks for school employees in Michigan.
Now, all persons employed by the school district will have to submit to digital fingerprinting by July 1, 2008.
This includes bus drivers, custodians, substitutes and even secretaries. Even those who’ve already been ink-printed before.
The digital fingerprints, or the Automated Fingerprinting Identification System (AFIS), will be put into a giant database through the Michigan State Police starting January of next year.
Nancy Kammer, the Director of Human Resources for Oxford schools, said as of January 1, all employees of the school district will have two years to be digitally fingerprinted. Once the database is in place, the school district can cross-check those employees through the Michigan Department of Education’s database.
It will help them double-check the history of those who are already employed and those coming into the school district.
‘We have been doing that (although, not digitally) for a number of years,? Kammer said. ‘It’s a good process and it’s going to be effective, but it’s a huge task both for the state police and the Michigan Department of Education.?
Kammer also pointed out that the law prohibits schools from hiring anyone who has been convicted of any felonies and that digital fingerprinting would speed up the records process.
Felonies like soliciting a child for immoral purposes, criminal sexual assault and felony kidnapping would mean immediate dismissal with no chance of being hired anywhere else. ‘Their teaching certificate would be suspended,? Kammer said.
If a non-listed offense, like misdemeanors or breaking of any Michigan penal codes, should be found, it is up to the discretion of the board of education.
Because the amendments are so new, Kammer said there are still questions that need to be answered, like how far will the history go back and other guidelines.
To get digitally fingerprinted, each employee of the school district will be charged $70, which does not set well with some school employees.
‘Seventy dollars is a lot of money,? said Sue Johnson, a teacher at Clear Lake Elementary. ‘I’m not opposed to having it done. I don’t know who should pay for it, but it shouldn’t be all on the individual.?
Teachers are not the only ones affected by the new amendments. Clear Lake secretary Lori Dean agrees that it’ll be a good thing to have, but that the state should pay for it. ‘We can’t even afford to put gas in our cars, now they want us to pay $70??
Kammer said the state is trying to set sites up for employees to get fingerprinted, but that the school districts will try to get the company to come to the schools.
Besides digital fingerprinting, the amended law also sets up a safety zone, which prohibits convicted felons from living or loitering within 1,000 feet of a school.