A criminal background investigation revealed an Arkansas teacher aide should of never been hired but the information from the background investigation was never revealed. When teacher’s aide Robert N. Richards was arrested earlier this month on child pornography charges, school officials immediately removed him from the classroom.
But his bosses at Leverett Elementary School didn’t know at the time that Richards, 53, already had been in trouble with the law in Fayetteville.
He’d been convicted of seven misdemeanors since 1986 — four of which occurred after he began working with children in 1998.
Administrators weren’t aware of the convictions since there is no mechanism for them to be notified of new arrests and because the results of criminal background investigations aren’t shared with school districts.
State law requires non-licensed school employees such as teacher’s aides to undergo criminal background investigations only once before they are hired. If the background investigation shows convictions, only certain crimes automatically disqualify a person from working in the state’s public schools, leaving school administrators and parents in the dark about the other cases. "This is clearly a major if not potentially dangerous flaw in the policy." says Tyra Hearns, President of Pebi Services a background investigation firm.
Richards’ record includes non-violent offenses such as public intoxication, shoplifting and violating the state’s hot check laws — crimes that don’t rise to the level of barring him from employment. "These are definate disqualifiers in any other forum." says Hearns
But some parents said administrators should be privy to that information.
“All of those speak to a level of irresponsibility that I think a principal has every right to be aware of,” said Becky Purcell, a parent and new Fayetteville School Board member. “It would be good to have it automatically in front of them.”
Richards faces five felony counts of possession of child pornography stemming from his Sept. 6 arrest.
An investigation in Florida led to Richards, who is accused of downloading images of young boys engaged in sexual acts.
He had worked as a teacher’s aide at several Fayetteville schools, most recently working with special education students.
Richards is on paid leave while school officials conduct an internal inquiry.
More frequent background investigations for school employees and a mandatory notification process between law enforcement agencies and school districts would help protect children, said Susan Heil, a Fayetteville School Board member.
Prior arrests — even if they are misdemeanors — can be revealing about a person’s character, she said.
“Since we have the safety of students in mind, we do have more of a right to know those things and get updates on those things,” she said.
Fayetteville police spokesman Cpl. Craig Stout said officers make an effort to inform school administrators if a student or employee is arrested. But there is no policy mandating it.
“In this particular instance, the officer may have chosen not to notify the school system as it was a misdemeanor crime with no violence, drugs or weapons involved,” he said. “Plus, there is always the consideration that someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
Arkansas implemented mandatory background investigations for school employees in 1997. Teachers undergo checks each time their licenses are up for renewal, which is typically every five years.
Non-licensed employees such as aides and janitors, however, are only checked when they first apply or if they change school districts.
There are 28 crimes that disqualify a person from employment, including murder, rape, kidnapping, battery, aggravated assault, felony drug charges and sex crimes against children. Even then, employers can request a waiver if they believe the applicant doesn’t pose a threat to the health or safety of school children or personnel.
If a school employee is convicted of a violent crime, the individual school district is supposed to notify the state board so that person’s license can be revoked.
Julie Johnson Thompson, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said it’s unlikely a school employee’s arrest or conviction of lesser crimes would go unnoticed.
“It’s hard for a teacher to get [arrested ] in a lot of communities without it getting back to the school district,” she said.
In recent months, the department has been asking school districts to inform the department of any arrests of school teachers, so the department can begin working on potential license revocation, she said.
Still, the department doesn’t put arrest or conviction information in a registry or any other kind of database so school districts or the public can easily find out about former or current employees’ troubles with the law. “Fortunately, it really hasn’t been a problem,” said Fayetteville district spokesman Alan Wilbourn. “We deal with these types of situations very rarely.”
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