Criminal checks

The headline pretty much said it all: “CMS: ‘We blew it’ on staff memo.” CMS? That’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Here’s the story of what happened.

The school system has been doing criminal background checks on new hires for years. When a teacher was caught shooting heroin on school property and when it turned out that same teacher had a history of drug abuse, the school system decided that they ought to check out current employees, too.

So far, so good. The idea was to take steps so that students and teachers in the system were kept safe. Background checks for current employees seem to becoming more common. Teachers even supported the idea, according to the Charlotte Observer.

So a staffer put together a memo and that’s where the problem started. It went out to 18,000 workers and informed them that unless they authorized the district to investigate their finances, background, character and “mode of living” they could be fired. They had a couple of days to sign the form.

Even though the additional background checks had been discussed, workers simply weren’t ready for anything like this. It arrived out of the blue. It was a shock.

The tone was heavy-handed. Comply by Friday, or else!

Just […]