Do Schools Need to Do Background Checks on Teachers?

In recent years, school safety has become a huge concern for parents and administrators alike. However, protecting students from outsiders or other students is not the only concern for communities. Teacher misconduct is one of the many potentially damaging factors in any school setting. One may wonder how teachers are selected for employment, and the answer is not very simple; each state has a different process for hiring teachers and differing requirements for employment of educators. Therefore, it is not difficult for teachers who have engaged in misconduct in one state to become educators in other states relatively easily, depending on the states and whether or not the appropriate measures are taken in hiring the individuals. If department store employers are required to perform background checks on all potential employees, then it is reasonable to assume that the teachers who care for our children many hours each week should be subject to even more stringent precautionary measures.

Children & teachers spend majority of time together

School employees spend a majority of their days with children and are responsible for their safety while out of the care of their parents; while those with criminal pasts are not always violent or pose a danger or threat, it is critical that schools enforce procedures in hiring teachers that ensure the safety of the school and the welfare of the children who rely on adults to provide them with security. This is not to say that people with criminal records should by and large be designated as un-hirable as teachers, but that candidates should be carefully selected for licensure as well as job positions with children present by considering the nature of the offense, the length of time since the offense, and the frequency of offenses.

Safety of students should be the foremost priority

The welfare of our country’s children should always be at the forefront of our minds when searching for new teachers to hire. Parents trust teachers and administrators to provide safe and nurturing environments for their children; it is in the best interest of the child, families, and the community at large that schools uphold that commitment by hiring only the most stable, qualified, and reliable individuals to teach our children. Educators should maintain the priorities of child welfare, quality education, and safety. Therefore, it is crucial to perform background checks on individuals before they are permitted to be alone in a classroom with even a single child.

Background checks are critical for many reasons

Furthermore, background checks are critical in determining how truthful one’s résumé is. They allow employers to verify credentials, degrees, and graduating titles that may be listed on any given résumé. Providing the best education for the children of our country is critical to the overall success of future generations. Public education in particular must be invested in properly in order to ensure that individuals continue to receive the same quality education as others. By performing background checks on potential teachers, schools can make informed choices in hiring people that will provide students with access to the most informed education possible. Knowledgeable, skilled, and educated individuals will have no reason to fictionalize the details of their résumé; background checks will ensure that the information given is truthful.

Conclusion

Performing background checks on teachers is necessary for schools to engage in; it promotes the safety, education, and success of children, schools, and communities in general. Teachers must be trustworthy and dedicated to ensuring the well being of their students, and it is critical that the quality of individuals hired to take on such a huge responsibility is at its highest. Teacher misconduct is sometimes inevitable, despite a clear background check; by pre-screening teachers, the risks are greatly eliminated from entering a school atmosphere to begin with. However, one must be prepared to deal with the choices that free will sometimes brings individuals to make. Therefore, it is also important for states to become unified on how to deal with teacher misconduct and how to best communicate the occurrences to appropriate sources so that other schools can make informed decisions when hiring such individuals. Ostracizing the people in our country who have committed crimes is not the answer to solving this issue; employers must use careful discretion in hiring employees of all professions and keep an open mind. When it comes to the safety of our children, it is important to limit the amount of chances we take.

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