The reults of background checks on employees of the two-year college system prove the state Board of Education was right to ignore Alabama Education Association objections.
The AEA did everything it could to keep college officials from finding out whether any of their teachers or staff members had felony criminal records. The teachers' organization lobbied against the proposed background checks, and when that failed it dragged the two-year system into court.
The lawsuit resulted in the system telling employees that providing Social Security numbers –– which would have made the checks more accurate –– was optional.
Even so, after checking the background of more than 9,300 employees, officials identified 73 who had been convicted of felony charges, including sexual assault and murder.
The system appears to be handling the revelations in an appropriate manner. Those people whose convictions were 20 or so years ago, and who have lived exemplary lives since then, were allowed to stay on the job. Eight others were terminated, four left voluntarily, and six found their contracts not renewed. The fate of 32 others is still being decided.
Granted, more than 100 employees were flagged as possibly having a criminal record when they didn't have one. The AEA is understandably hot about that.
Nevertheless, AEA's criticism of Chancellor Bradley Byrne and the school board for wrongly accusing the innocent employees seems disingenuous. The mistakes are understandable, and no one was fired because of a false accusation.
The bottom line is that at least 18 people who should never have been working for the system will no longer be in a position to harm students or compromise the colleges in any way, and that proves the background checks were good policy.
Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns
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