School Board Background Checks

How important to you is the safety of our children? Important enough to have background checks on school employees? Currently, we don’t have a criminal or child abuse background check requirement for school board members. For most school employees, the Pennsylvania Department of Education requires that they have a Federal criminal history clearance, a state criminal history clearance, and a child abuse clearance (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2020). School board members are not required to have these clearances. School board members, however, take a role in schools that warrants these clearances. First, school board members have contact with students and those in the community, similar to how teachers do. School board members also make decisions for kids in their school district. School board members are also in charge of teachers and staff in the school, so it only seems logical that the same basic requirements that teachers and staff have also apply to school board members.

In the Wellsboro Area School District, we have no requirement for school board member background checks. I believe that this is an issue because the lack of requirements could allow dangerous people to become school board members. Anyone, even those who have served time for a felony offense can become a school board member. Some may think that those who have committed these crimes would not be able to win an election. However, people running for school boards may cover up these crimes until it is too late. They also could support a popular idea or policy and cause voters to overlook their past. Personally, I had gone to a school board meeting and therefore had contact with several school board members as a result.

Ideally, a state or federal law could change this requirement to make all school employees required to have background checks. This would stop anyone who has been convicted for abusing a child, sexual assault, and much more from becoming a school board member. This solution is ambitious, but everyone can do something to convince their representatives to push for this change. Simply emailing or mailing a letter to your representative can help them consider the issue and possibly try to make a change. This solution is difficult to achieve and would take a lot of time, but provides the most irreversible results and affects many schools, not just yours.

A more obtainable solution would be to implement a local policy for background checks on school board members. Similar to state and federal levels, writing or emailing your representative is a good place to start. Going to a school board meeting and voicing your concerns is another. Emailing school board members personally is also a good way to show that you care about an issue and to change someone’s mind. Starting a petition of people who support this change in requirements for school board members is another great way to influence your representatives.

References: 

Clearances and background checks. Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.education.pa.gov/E...