Deseret News | Reader comments: School officials want background checks

Reader comments
School officials want background checks

Anonymous | 4:22 a.m. May 25, 2009

No $70 isn't a significant cost. The state should take care of it.

Anonymous | 4:27 a.m. May 25, 2009

The link to the audit doesn't work.

Also the story makes it sound like it was a bunch of rotten teachers that have the criminal records by calling them educators.

In reality, most of them were custodians and aides. Of course that doesn't sound as exciting so lets make it sound like a good chunk of our teachers are criminals.

Nice reporting.

AC | 5:47 a.m. May 25, 2009

How about working on lessening the tenure laws, so that teachers can actually be fired for crimes, without the year long $160,000 legal cost incurred, and rewarding decent teachers? Too many things are overlooked and it is our children that suffer. If I found out my child was being taught by someone who had committed some sexual assualt crime and the school knew about it, I would be livid. Obviously, our children aren't the main concern here, are they?

Comments continue below

Their rights | 6:12 a.m. May 25, 2009

Although I am for the safety of children in schools, it seems there is a violation of individuals rights by forcing anyone arrested but not convicted of any crime to report it and have it used as a means to black list a teacher. We have criminals in government writing and enacting laws and should be penalized by the same standards yet they go untouched, above the law. As for teachers with a history of offenses that can be of harm to children, they should not have been able to renew or keep their teaching certificates. Double jeopardy is against the law and only the courts can determine punishment for crimes. Discrimination by employers falls in the category of penalizing individuals against the double jeopardy laws without due process. Are only our elected officials exempt from discrimination of previous convictions and criminal behaviors? They write the laws that are allowing public discrimination and persecution for deeds of the past. Whatever happened to forgive and forget? The courts of justice forgive heinous crimes so why is public persecution and discrimination legal?

Shelby | 8:13 a.m. May 25, 2009

The link to the audit includes an unnecessary character. Cut and paste the link without the period at the end and it should work for you.

mary | 9:15 a.m. May 25, 2009

The teachers themselves should pay for the tests, not the state.

Re AC: | 9:36 a.m. May 25, 2009

You must think that tenure rules are a means for a teacher to keep their jobs through thick and thin. A tenured teacher can be fired and I have witnessed tenured teachers either being fired or forced to resign. The only difference between a tenured teacher and a non-tenured teacher is that a tenured teacher must be fired for a reason, while a non-tenured teacher can be fired without reason. I haven't heard of one case in Utah where a teacher convicted of a sex crime has been allowed to keep his/her license and therefore continue to teach. Can you give provide an instance? I think you are barking up the wrong tree. Teachers have always been expected to live their personal lives well above the community standard. I think an arrest record that would pertain to the safety of a child is important, but being arrested for civil disobedience, speeding, unpaid parking tickets, or simply at a police officers whim isn't important. What matters are convictions and if the state isn't careful, their arrest record law could spur some very costly lawsuits.

Re: AC | 10:15 a.m. May 25, 2009

Tenure is hard to get, especially when there are less and less teaching jobs at the moment. I've seen teachers being fired after getting tenure, and it wasn't for anything major. Tenure is a great thing because students make things up to deny their own fault in things and blame teachers, so it protects teachers actually doing their jobs. Maybe you should be fired for your ignorance.

Anonymous | 10:34 a.m. May 25, 2009

I live in Calif. and work in the schools. They make everybody that works in the schools give fingerprints and they run them. I would think that it wouldn't be any different in any state. Utah should have been doing this for a long time since they have so many children in there schools.

sc | 11:40 a.m. May 25, 2009

To anonymous from Cal...Utah has been doing it for a long time. Doing it more often is unnecessary and expensive. Recent violators are new offenders. Doing fingerprinting every four years is like the daycare witch hunts of the past. Where changes really made? No, it turned out the hunts were made on fallacy. There are such a small percentage of teachers with records...is it worth the extra money and should a teacher lose their job for being arrested for not paying parking or speeding ticket? Maybe if they were paid a decent wage they could afford to pay the tickets in the first place. Just think about it folks!

Teacher | 12:19 p.m. May 25, 2009

I agree with many of the comments made in this forum and also agree that problems with teachers need to addressed. Districts have three years with 1st year teachers where they are not obligated to renew contracts-these teachers are provisional. If there are problems, work with the teacher and try to resolve the problem. Also address it at the university level.
As far as paying another $20 to renew a license, yeah it is a pain. And last time I renewed mine, it wasn't 50-it was 65. Licenses are renewed every five years. Also, to add an additional endorsement to a liscense (such as reading, math, etc.) the teacher pays an additional $25 per endorsement. To get a copy of your license before the renewal period is another 15. So, yeah, what the heck-throw another 20 on top of everything else. Honestly, charging for everything is getting ridiculous. And I'm not just talking about teachers. This state is a joke.

CCW | 2:56 p.m. May 25, 2009

Just make sure all applicants have their Concealed Weapon Permit - that way you know their record is SQUEAKY CLEAN!

Anonymous | 3:12 p.m. May 25, 2009

We should be running background checks on our legislators before our teachers.

Anonymous | 4:59 p.m. May 25, 2009

Are you kidding? Tenure is so, so simple to get. Once you've got it, the union protects you like you're an endangered species. You pretty much have to rape or murder a student to get fired...and even then, I'm sure the union would fight it. As a teacher, this is the problem I see in this state...the bad teachers, and thankfully they are in the minority, cannot be fired. This needs to change.

Sorry, don't buy it | 6:33 p.m. May 25, 2009

Tenure can't possibly be that hard to establish. I know a teacher that is a complete psycho, was fired from a previous job for hitting a disabled student, and she still managed to get it. She currently works with disabled and handicapped children as a tenure teacher. I wouldn't trust her with a pit bull, let alone a precious dependant child. So whatever the requirements are for tenture, they aren't hard enough to keep people like her out.

Anonymous | 8:27 p.m. May 25, 2009

There is no such thing as tenure in Utah.

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