Background Checks for Schools

When you ask parents with young children what their biggest concerns are for their kids when starting school, one of the most prominent answers is safety. Parents want to know that their kids are safe while traveling to school on the bus and while at school with all of their teachers. Of course, safety is a broad term, so it could cover a lot of different things.

SafeHiring Solutions focuses mightily on school safety. Whether that be background checks or visitor management, it is a main focus of the company. Although I can talk all day about the visitor management piece and its importance for school safety, this article will focus on the backbone of school safety: background checks.

So why do I call it the backbone? That’s because background checks on your employees and volunteers should be the first step of your safety plan. These are the people that will be interacting with the kids on a daily basis, so it’s vital to know they are safe and trustworthy.

When thinking about background checks, a lot of questions probably come to mind. These can include questions like:

• Do volunteers need background checks?

• What about vendors? Do we need to background check vendors?

• How long are background checks good for?

• How often should we conduct background checks?

• How do we keep track of who has a background check and who doesn’t?

These are questions we get on a daily basis. They are important questions, and all require a bit of explanation. Let’s run through these.

Do volunteers need background checks? 

Yes, anyone that would have direct access to kids or the school should have a background check completed. Volunteers help with a lot of different types of activities, so it is always a good idea to make sure they are safe to be around kids. 

People with bad intentions want to gain access to kids, so how do they do that? They try to volunteer. Doing background checks on your volunteers is vital in keeping away people with the wrong intentions.

What about vendors?

Yes. Vendors often have access to schools and can wander the halls freely. Think about the guy who restocks the coke machine, or the one who fixes your lighting. These types of people often have access to the entire school, so it’s important to know that they are safe and can be trusted.

How long are background checks good for?

The answer to this question is a little difficult. To be completely honest, a background check can be outdated the day after it’s completed. You can complete a background check on your employee on Monday, and then on Tuesday he or she could commit a crime and you might not know about it until the next time you run a background check on the employee.

Luckily, if you utilize SafeHiring Solutions for your background checks, you can use ArrestAlert. ArrestAlert is continuous monitoring that closes the gap on background screenings. Your team will be alerted in real-time of an arrest. Most organizations using ArrestAlert are able to increase the interval between background checks which results in tremendous savings and added security.

How often should we conduct background checks?

This question can kind of go along with the previous question. If using ArrestAlert, you can go longer between background checks. It is always a good idea to conduct background checks as often as you can, but we know that is not always feasible. 

In many states, there are requirements for school employees and how often they need to be searched. For example, Indiana schools are required to conduct background checks on their employees every five years. Be sure to check with your local requirements while organizing your safety plan.

How do we keep track of who has a background check and who doesn’t?

The management of background checks can be challenging for any school. Luckily, SafeVisitor Solutions can manage your background checks and rechecks for you. SafeVisitor can ensure that your background checks are renewed in the time frame you established automatically. Please click on the link above to learn more.

Overall, school safety involves a lot of different aspects, but you always have to start somewhere. Background checks are a great starting point for any safety plan. 

If you are interested in learning more, please contact us at sales@safehiringsolutions.com. You can also give us a call at (866) 434-0002.