Pubdate: Wed, 11 Apr 2007
Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2007 Asbury Park Press
Contact:  http://www.app.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26
Author: Jason Method, Staff Writer

CRIMINAL RECORDS COST 2 TEACHERS THEIR JOBS

Passaic Firings, One Pending In Atlantic City, In  Accord With State
Law

Two school teachers have been fired and a third is  expected to be
after an Asbury Park Press database  search found they had criminal
records that  disqualified them from school employment.

Two Passaic teachers were fired this week,  Superintendent Robert
Holster said. An Atlantic City  teacher also is expected to be terminated.

The state Department of Education sent letters last  week to request
the employees be fired after state  officials independently confirmed
the criminal  convictions provided by the Press.

The Atlantic City teacher, Nina Chavis, 42, was  convicted of a
child-abuse charge in 1999, court  records show. She could not be
reached for comment, and  school officials were unavailable because of
the  district's spring break. Chavis was hired in 1997.

Both Passaic elementary school teachers denied having  the
illegal-drug criminal convictions in interviews  last week.

Court records show Jason E. Hawes, 37, a School Number  5
special-education teacher in the Passaic County city,  was sentenced
in 1993 for manufacturing and  distributing drugs, then was hired 10
years later.  Holster said he informed Hawes of his firing Monday.

Holster said he did not know why the conviction did not  show up on a
background check.

Hawes again denied the charges in his meeting but  otherwise said
little, Holster said.

Anthony T. Wade, 42, a School Number 11 basic-skills  teacher, was
sentenced in Bergen County for cocaine  possession in 2001, court
records show. He had been  hired by Passaic in 1998.

Holster said city police and the Passaic County  Prosecutor's Office
quickly inform him when a staff  member has been arrested. He said
other law enforcement  offices are not as quick to report an arrest,
and he  said an automatic reporting system should be in place.

"I don't think they recognize the potential danger of  allowing people
with criminal backgrounds in the  schools -- whether it's drugs or a
child predator,"  Holster said.

Holster said he wants to perform background checks on  all district
personnel routinely, but the local  teachers union has so far balked
at the idea.

"There should be something where every five years of  service,
everyone should go through a background  check," Holster said. "There
could be (sexual)  predators."

Department of Education spokesman Jon Zlock said of 14  names
submitted by the Press, convictions for eight  employees did not rise
to the level of disqualifying  them for school employment.

All school employees must have background checks before  they are
hired and when they take new jobs in other  districts, Zlock said.

The state performed 72,000 background checks last year,  and opened
2,000 investigations as a result of those  checks, Zlock said.

The state does not check current employees and does not  cross-match
employee databases with criminal conviction  databases, Zlock said. He
said the department would  consider making such checks in the future.

In addition, fingerprints for 209,000 local school  employees,
obtained after Feb. 21, 2003, when a new  state law took effect, are
stored in a State Police  database. If an employee in the database is
arrested  and fingerprinted, the employer is notified.

If there is a mistake in a criminal record that has  disqualified an
employee, the employee can appeal the  decision to the state. However,
barring a mistake in  the record, there is little recourse for such
employees, Zlock said.

"The law is the law," Zlock said. "A disqualifying  offense is a
disqualifying offense."
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MAP posted-by: Derek