Shelly
02-02-2007, 08:22 PM
Ken Rodriguez: After costly criminal checks, schools can get valuable info from Web
Web Posted: 02/01/2007 10:54 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/krodriguez/stories/MYSA020207.01B.rodriguez.1b03b02.html
The Madison High School teacher accused of sexual misconduct with a student passed a criminal background check.
The Wilderness Oak Elementary employee accused of inappropriately touching a student passed a criminal check.
Collectively, San Antonio's three largest school districts spend more than $250,000 each year searching criminal databases. And each year scandals explode, revealing the limits of the screening system.
Job applicants may have no criminal history. But that doesn't mean they pose no risk.
Very often, school districts miss warning signs seen by hundreds and available to millions. Those warning signs are posted in cyberspace.
Don't believe me? Check out the postings of future educators on Facebook.com and MySpace.com.
Valerie, an education major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, describes her main interest on a Facebook page: "Waking up the morning after a drunken night and not knowing what the hell happened!"
Valerie's favorite quote: "Life's a waste of time, time's a waste of life, so let's get wasted and have the time of our life."
In keeping with that theme, she belongs to a user group called "I love to (expletive) Party Harty (expletive)."
A Facebook description of the group:
"This is for all those people who love to go and party the night away to when they can't remember and wake up next to someone who they really don't want to wake up next to."
If Valerie has strong grades and a clean criminal record, she could wind up teaching your kid in school.
The Northside, Northeast and San Antonio school districts could identify applicants like her if they would use a simple, inexpensive screening tool.
The Google search.
Major companies are Googling applicants, and for good reason. Most college students have Web logs. Employers can learn more about applicants from cyber postings than personal references.
A referring friend, for example, wouldn't know or disclose revealing information about Grace, a UTSA education major. But a Facebook page would.
Grace belongs to one user group called "My alcohol level is higher than my GPA." She belongs to a second group called "I hope they serve beer in hell."
The beer-in-hell group lists the following as requirements: "beer drinking, swearing, promiscuity and just plain old debauchery."
Harmless stuff?
Consider Jorge, 22, whose listed major is "to look at women." His favorite books are "picture books and porno books, which are usually the same thing." His employer: "Mexican Mafia." His position: "Gangster."
NEISD spent tens of thousands on fingerprinting and criminal background checks this year. But that didn't yield incriminating blogs and photos available online for free.
I asked NEISD, Northside and SAISD officials if they'd consider Web searches next year. NEISD and Northside said they would. SAISD said security blocks prevent it from accessing social networking sites. Maybe, SAISD could use a nondistrict computer.
Public schools could learn a lesson from a mistake made by local private school principal.
The principal once hired a nurse. Cleverly, the nurse provided a nickname and bogus personal information. She passed a criminal check.
"Had I Googled her nickname," the principal says, "I would've learned the truth."
The nurse was an imposter, wanted for years on a range of criminal charges. Today, she's behind bars, serving 46 years.
Web Posted: 02/01/2007 10:54 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/krodriguez/stories/MYSA020207.01B.rodriguez.1b03b02.html
The Madison High School teacher accused of sexual misconduct with a student passed a criminal background check.
The Wilderness Oak Elementary employee accused of inappropriately touching a student passed a criminal check.
Collectively, San Antonio's three largest school districts spend more than $250,000 each year searching criminal databases. And each year scandals explode, revealing the limits of the screening system.
Job applicants may have no criminal history. But that doesn't mean they pose no risk.
Very often, school districts miss warning signs seen by hundreds and available to millions. Those warning signs are posted in cyberspace.
Don't believe me? Check out the postings of future educators on Facebook.com and MySpace.com.
Valerie, an education major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, describes her main interest on a Facebook page: "Waking up the morning after a drunken night and not knowing what the hell happened!"
Valerie's favorite quote: "Life's a waste of time, time's a waste of life, so let's get wasted and have the time of our life."
In keeping with that theme, she belongs to a user group called "I love to (expletive) Party Harty (expletive)."
A Facebook description of the group:
"This is for all those people who love to go and party the night away to when they can't remember and wake up next to someone who they really don't want to wake up next to."
If Valerie has strong grades and a clean criminal record, she could wind up teaching your kid in school.
The Northside, Northeast and San Antonio school districts could identify applicants like her if they would use a simple, inexpensive screening tool.
The Google search.
Major companies are Googling applicants, and for good reason. Most college students have Web logs. Employers can learn more about applicants from cyber postings than personal references.
A referring friend, for example, wouldn't know or disclose revealing information about Grace, a UTSA education major. But a Facebook page would.
Grace belongs to one user group called "My alcohol level is higher than my GPA." She belongs to a second group called "I hope they serve beer in hell."
The beer-in-hell group lists the following as requirements: "beer drinking, swearing, promiscuity and just plain old debauchery."
Harmless stuff?
Consider Jorge, 22, whose listed major is "to look at women." His favorite books are "picture books and porno books, which are usually the same thing." His employer: "Mexican Mafia." His position: "Gangster."
NEISD spent tens of thousands on fingerprinting and criminal background checks this year. But that didn't yield incriminating blogs and photos available online for free.
I asked NEISD, Northside and SAISD officials if they'd consider Web searches next year. NEISD and Northside said they would. SAISD said security blocks prevent it from accessing social networking sites. Maybe, SAISD could use a nondistrict computer.
Public schools could learn a lesson from a mistake made by local private school principal.
The principal once hired a nurse. Cleverly, the nurse provided a nickname and bogus personal information. She passed a criminal check.
"Had I Googled her nickname," the principal says, "I would've learned the truth."
The nurse was an imposter, wanted for years on a range of criminal charges. Today, she's behind bars, serving 46 years.