Mathews Board seeks counsel on law

VIENNA — The Mathews Board of Education plans to talk to its legal counsel about a recently enacted state law that broadens requirements for criminal record checks for all school employees and job applicants, including those who have no contact with children.

The new law requires FBI checks in addition to the already existing mandate for criminal record reviews with the Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation that must be conducted every five years for teachers. The board already pays for the BCII reviews and Superintendent Lee Seiple wants to know whether the district is financially responsible for the FBI checks.

“BCI charges $30 per check and I’m sure the FBI will want to be paid as well,” Seiple said. “I don’t know whether or not we have to pay for it.”

Board President Roy Pratt III is concerned about another of the law’s provisions that prohibit the district from continuing to employ anyone convicted of a crime.

“Are we supposed to call someone in and fire them immediately?” said Pratt. “How soon are we supposed to act?

“They’ve really put the onus on the school district by making us responsible for both FBI and BCI checks,” Pratt said.

Discussion about the state law highlighted the board’s reorganization meeting Wednesday, in which Pratt was re-elected president and Kenneth Wallace II elected vice-president by unanimous vote. The board also accepted donations totaling $2,000 from the Athletic Boosters and the Mathews Little Mustangs for Astro Turf for the baseball/softball weight room at Booster Field.