Utah legislators are considering a bill that would require a criminal background check for school employees and volunteers. In addition, the bill includes language that would allow school districts to require individuals to pay for their own records search.
The law will affect any individual employed by the school district whether they are a custodian, or a teacher. In addition, any volunteer given “significant unsupervised access to a student” would also be affected. The fees for the criminal background checks would range from $20-40 for non-certificated employees to $70 for licensed teachers. Volunteers would have to pay up to $40.
Teachers in Utah are relicensed every five years, at which time a new criminal background check is required. However, under the new law, the State Office of Education would have the authority to require a new records search “where reasonable cause exists.” While these new requirements may be an extra burden to educators, parents of students will have some peace of mind knowing that the people that interact with their children pose no threat to them.
Utah Legislature: Law could require background checks for school employees …
Deseret News
If the bill passes, districts will have the option of making employees — from teachers to custodians — pay for the cost of the criminal background check…
In today’s society where identity theft is always a concern, as well as what might be posted on your friend’s Facebook page about you, it is certainly useful to know that there is nothing falsely incriminating on your record. That’s because a criminal background search from one of our carefully vetted providers, such as USSearch, also checks what is available on social networks and on the internet in general, so you need to be sure that when a Utah criminal background check is conducted on you, only true and relevant information is presented.
