Schools Tap New System For Background Checks
The Associated Press
Published: Oct 21, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - -- In less than a month, 26,000 background checks have been put into an Internet-based system designed to avoid duplicate fingerprinting of contractors and others who work in Florida's schools, a Senate committee was told Thursday.
The fingerprinting requirement for vending machine stockers, sports referees and others who regularly visit school grounds is designed to help protect children against sexual predators.
The requirement is part of the Jessica Lunsford Act, named for a 9-year-old girl who was taken from her bedroom and slain.
John Couey, the man charged in her case, is a convicted sex offender.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement created the data sharing system after school districts and contractors complained of having to get multiple background checks -- and pay multiple fees -- for employees who go to schools in more than one district.
FDLE Assistant Commissioner Electra Bustle told the Senate Justice Appropriations Committee that checks on 26,000 people had been placed into the sharing system since Sept. 30.
The figure includes people applying for jobs as teachers or other school positions.
Bustle said her agency has no way to calculate how many duplicate fees, which average $61 per background check, have been avoided.
The system has been accessed by users 704 times, but school districts can check more than one applicant during each log-in, she said.
The law, although aimed at sexual predators, requires schools to bar individuals with records of "moral turpitude," a term that can include drunken driving, petty theft and other minor crimes. Sponsors have acknowledged the wording is too broad and plan to amend the law to narrow its scope.
Other provisions of the Jessica Lunsford Act provide tougher penalties for sex crimes against children and lifetime electronic monitoring for sex offenders who target children once released from prison.
Story taken from the following website: http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBF0EUS1FE.html
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