July 9, 2008

Case Study: Dallas Schools Backlogged and Behind

Would you want to know the backgrounds of the people working with your children? The residents of Texas did.  In 2007 as they passed a law that required in-depth background checks for both their current and future employees. This law came on the heels of reports of delayed and incomplete background checks on the part of the Dallas Independent School District.

This particular school district was not keeping up with the employee background check requirements and was backlogged for months. It was also using non-comprehensive databases for the states where the employees had lived.

In today’s world, comprehensive pre-employment screening is vital. Letting screening standards lapse into the state that the Dallas school district did left the children in potentially harmful situations and the district open to legal action.

The passing of the new law in Texas was an acknowledgement that the limited background searches were insufficient to discover the complete backgrounds of school employees. After all, with checks like this, the employee need only leave a suspicious state off the application and their employer would be none the wiser.

The Dallas Independent School District eventually discovered that in their backlogged background checks, numerous employees had undisclosed criminal records that had not been discovered in their limited checks.

If a comprehensive employee background check system had been in place much earlier, the district would not have been employing people with questionable backgrounds. Don’t let potentially harmful employees slip by with an inadequate pre-employment screening practice.  Consult with a qualified employee background check provider to guarantee that due diligence will be exercised.

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