State System to perform employee background checks
The State System of Higher Education will invest $4 million this year to perform criminal background checks on its employees and volunteers, including those at California University of Pennsylvania.
The new policy is a response to 2014 changes in state law that expanded beyond schoolteachers the scope of who must undergo FBI, state police and child abuse checks before coming in contact with children, State System spokesman Kenn Marshall said.
“It makes sense to have everyone undergo the checks,” Marshall said Monday.
He said the State System will require 43,000 people, including students who hold campus jobs at its 14 schools, to have the background checks by Dec. 31.
There are instances when 17-year-old students are enrolled in the universities as freshmen, Cal U. spokeswoman Christine Kindl said.
“There are children here for band festivals and sports camps,” Kindl said. “I think you’ll see it in a lot of different places.”
State Rep. Pam Snyder last week said she would seek a bill to waive the background check fees for firefighters because their costs can be a burden for some fire departments. The combined state and federal checks cost $47.50, she said, and the checks are required every three years.
The discussions about requiring the checks for more groups of people who work with children grew out of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State. Sandusky, a Washington native and former Penn State football team defensive coordinator, was convicted in 2012 of molesting boys. He is serving a 30-year sentence at SCI-Greene.
Marshall said the December amendments to the Child Protective Services Law were designed to ensure “anyone dealing with minors is properly vetted.”
“It’s an important issue,” Marshall said.
He said it had yet to be determined how the cost of renewing the checks in three years will be paid for within the State System.
“Right now, we are paying for them,” he said.