School board updates criminal background policy

Hamilton County Board of Education members decided Friday that the school system should be more careful about checking potential employees' backgrounds.

During the first day of a two-day board retreat -- held locally instead of in Nashville as in recent years -- members decided to tweak board policy to:

* Make reference in the policy to the searches the school system runs on potential employees in sex offenders and child abuse registries.

* Make certain the policy is clear that the system will complete criminal background checks on all potential employees, no matter what.

* Allow potential employees' references to present concerns to human resources officials without having to put it in writing.

The board also decided to vote on approving a summertime position in human resources that would be responsible only for checking references by phone.

Currently there are not enough employees in the human resources department to call each reference, said Connie Atkins, assistant superintendent for human resources.

"If you want to do references right, you've got to pick up the phone and call former employers," she said. "But we don't have time for that during the summer when we're hiring hundreds of people. It would help all of us sleep better at night, I assure you."

Until the extra position is added, Ms. Atkins said current HR personnel have decided to at least call former employers of those potential employees whose criminal background check reveals some prior incident.

"Sometimes these phone calls point to the character (of the potential employee)," she said. "Sometimes the court record is one red flag and there may be others."

Board members wanted to address the issue after incidents this year involving the criminal backgrounds of several former Hamilton County teachers.

After former Orchard Knob teacher Patrick Thompson was arrested this year on drug charges, school system officials learned of several prior arrests that Mr. Thompson had not disclosed.

Former Signal Mountain teachers' assistant Jonathan "Wes" Greene, who caused a big stir after officials discovered he was teaching math classes without a bachelor's degree or teaching certification, also had a prior drug arrest. Mr. Greene resigned in July after being arrested for attempting to sell prescription drugs.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Hamilton County Board of Education meets again today from 8 a.m. to noon for their board retreat at the Association of General Contractors downtown on 21st Street.