Old offenses can mean school workers’ dismissal

By JENNIFER GONZALEZ

Background checks are resulting in uncertain futures for some employees.

Sweeping changes in state laws intended to keep pupils safe have uncovered criminal offenses — some decades old — that are costing school employees their jobs.

The impact has been especially evident among nonteaching employees who, until this year, did not have to undergo the kind of comprehensive background checks done for teachers.

Now, staffers such as custodians, secretaries and cafeteria workers may face dismissal for newly unearthed offenses committed years ago.

John Reccord, a night supervisor for the Orange school district, has worked there for nearly two decades. But he stands to lose his job for an offense to which he pleaded guilty 35 years ago and was sentenced to probation.

“I have been at the school for 19 years without any problems,” Reccord said. “This is going to affect people who did something when they were young. Why should they lose their jobs now?”

He is one of a handful of Orange school employees facing an uncertain future as a result of the background checks.

Statewide, it’s unclear how many school employees are in a similar predicament. The Ohio Department of Education doesn’t keep track of nonlicensed employees, and a union representing such nonteaching staff also had no tallies available.

Shaker Heights is among the area school districts grappling with the issue.

“We absolutely need to protect children by checking the background of school employees. The problem we’re struggling with is that schools are being forced to let some exemplary employees go,” said Robert P. Kreiner, business administrator for the Shaker Heights school district.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me that a school district has to dismiss a veteran employee who was convicted of assault after getting into a fistfight at age 22, paid his debt to society, has stayed out of trouble, and has a spotless work record,” he said.

State legislators expanded the employee misconduct reporting laws last year to require that all school employees undergo background checks by both the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the FBI.

Rep. Brian Williams, an Akron Democrat and a supporter of the new laws, said they were put in place to protect children by ensuring accountability at the state and local levels. School districts should be responsible for the conduct of employees, he said.

“We need to do everything we can to create a safe haven for kids,” Williams said. Some offenses uncovered in the background checks require immediate dismissal; others allow employees to keep their jobs if they can show they have been rehabilitated.

Reccord, then 22, pleaded guilty in 1972 to a crime that triggers automatic dismissal.

Although he maintains his innocence, Reccord said he pleaded guilty to what is now known as robbery on the advice of his court-appointed attorney. He said the attorney told him he could face jail time if the matter went to court, so the young man opted for the guilty plea and five years’ probation.

Orange school officials wouldn’t comment directly on Reccord’s situation, citing privacy issues. However, the district acknowledged that it’s reviewing the employment of a handful of staffers after offenses turned up in their criminal background checks.

David Burnison, director of human resources at Orange, said it’s difficult for an employee with a long history of successful employment to be confronted with an offense that occurred 20 or 30 years ago.

“They would feel that their debt to society has been paid,” Burnison said. “But it’s also hard to argue that an employer wouldn’t want to know about certain offenses.”

In the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, criminal background checks have so far turned up two employees, both laborers, with serious violations — burglary and aggravated assault. Both resigned before hearings could be conducted.

The status of about 60 Cleveland school employees is unclear because they have not yet submitted to the background checks.

In Shaker Heights, two nonteaching employees have left the district as a result of their criminal background checks. One was terminated and the other resigned. A third employee’s case is pending after the background check revealed a dismissable offense, according to Peggy Caldwell, a school spokeswoman.

Eight other nonteaching staff were found to have lesser offenses. They must provide evidence that they have been rehabilitated to keep their jobs.

Some of the cases are quite old. One dates to 1983, Caldwell said.

That’s too long ago for Charles See, executive director for Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s community re-entry program, which supports people adjusting to life after prison. He said it’s unfair not to take into account how a person has lived after committing a crime.

“People change. People are rehabilitated,” he said. “We need to make sure our laws allow people to rebuild their lives and contribute to the community.”

Officials at the Ohio Association of Public School Employees said they argued for a “grandfather” provision in the General Assembly, but the proposal never gained traction.

The 37,000-member association represents custodians, secretaries, food service workers, bus drivers, and maintenance personnel.