Employee Background Checks: What Ohio School Districts Need to Know

Hiring decisions begin with student safety. In this episode, OSBA attorneys Dustin Koslen and Jennifer Hardin explain Ohio's employee background check requirements, absolute bar offenses, rehabilitation provisions and what school districts should consider before hiring applicants with past criminal convictions.

They also preview updated OSBA legal fact sheets and the upcoming Attendance, Tuition and Custody Law Workshop.

For more resources, training and advocacy updates from the Ohio School Boards Association, visit ohioschoolboards.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

The following program is a presentation of the Ohio School Boards Association. Student safety begins long before the first day of school. One of the most important responsibilities school districts have is making sure the people working with students are qualified and safe. So what does Ohio law require when it comes to employee background checks? And when can a past criminal conviction prevent someone from working in a school? Welcome to the Legal Ledger Sidebar. Dustin and Jenny are here to break it all down. And Dustin, as as student safety is such an important aspect of school law, what does Ohio law do to make sure that the adults caring for and educating uh students in schools are safe to be around?

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah, so Ohio law requires that all school employees are receiving criminal records background checks. Um so for licensed employees, think you know, teachers, uh, the state board of education uh does that when they apply for their licensure. For non-licensed employees and transportation employees, the school uh will do a background check. And that is to be done every five years for most uh employees, and then every six years for transportation employees.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

So, Jenny, what happens if a school district finds out that an employee or uh a potential employee has been convicted of a dangerous crime?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah, it's a great question. And there are some crimes, some convictions that are considered absolute bar offenses. And what that means is that the district can't hire an employee who's been convicted of one of those absolute bar offenses. And if the employee already works there, uh they need to terminate the employment of the individual. Um there's pretty obvious the things that are absolute bar offenses like murder and certain theft offenses, offenses involving children, human trafficking, drug trafficking. Um the absolute bar offenses apply to teachers, but they also apply to non-licensed employees and bus drivers. And for bus drivers, there are some additional addition uh absolute bar offenses involving, not surprisingly, operation of vehicles and convictions along those lines. Um and also not uh absolute bar offenses also apply to licensure or permits. So the State Board of Education won't issue or will revoke licenses and permits for people with absolute bar convictions.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

So not all people who have uh committed crimes in the past are dangerous. Uh does the law allow certain uh people to retain licensure or employment eligibility despite past convictions?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, not all convictions are absolute bars. There are essentially three buckets when you're dealing with criminal convictions. There are the absolute bar convictions. Um there are some that disqualify people from employment, but may allow for rehabilitation down the road. And then there are some that are not disqualifying offenses at all. Um speaking of the second care category, rehabilitation allows the possibility for licensure and employment in the future. Um the person has to show that they meet the criteria, which Dustin's going to talk about in a minute. And the criteria differ depending on whether the person is licensed, non-licensed, or uh bus driver.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

And Dustin, uh, as she alluded to, what are schools required to look at uh when considering if they can hire people who have been convicted of rehabilitative services?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Yeah, so again, I'll break it down with your educators, your non-licensed employees, and your transportation employees. So for educators, um mainly what we look for is is the licensor in good standing. So if the state board of education has revoked their licensor, then you know they're not gonna be hirable. If they still have licensor, then um they can execute a consent agreement with the Ohio Department of Education with the offense listed, and the school board can adopt a resolution listing the offense that they're gonna hire this person. Uh for your non-licensed employees um and your transportation employees, so long as the victim was not under the age of 18 or a student at the school, um, and then you know, there's been some rehabilitation such as um, you know, an expungement or um, you know, a sealed record, and then a written confirmation of the efforts to rehabilitate, and then a general consideration of is this person to be safe around students? Um, so there's a bunch of criteria in the law that you can consider for safety. Um, but really what you're looking for is is this person safe to be around our students?

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah. And did you touch on transportation too?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yeah, so non-license and transportation are pretty similar. Um, non-license just has an extra little piece um where there has to be some expungement since the time of conviction.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

So it looks like all this is is laid out uh by the law and and pretty much uh understandable by by school leaders. Um and if you don't understand it after listening to us, you guys have great resources on this topic and others. Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, so we have um a background checks uh fact sheet and a disqualifying offenses fact sheet. Um so we're actually releasing new versions of those um in the coming weeks, hopefully. Um so you know, there's been some changes to what disqualifying offenses are listed and uh how the state board of education considers that for licensure. So I went ahead and I reviewed some of those changes and we're gonna be releasing new sheets for consideration.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

And Jenny, uh I wanted you also to talk about an important workshop that's coming up on August 7th, our uh attendance, tuition, and custody law workshop, which usually draws a lot of uh attendees.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah, it's one of our biggest workshops every year. So we're really looking forward to it. And this was my first year planning it with Dustin since it's his first year here. So we really enjoyed putting together a great uh group of attorneys and other professionals from across the state who are going to talk about some of the issues that people on the front lines of enrollment, emiss, um, uh attendance, uh things that they struggle with kind of on a daily basis. And of course, featured in that uh that workshop is our ever-popular panel where you can come and ask uh tough questions to our panel of experts. So come on down.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Well, you guys, you guys get a lot of questions, I know, and you get a lot of questions on OSBA's legal hotline. Yep. And just remind our viewers and listeners what how to get a hold of you guys if you have a question.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Sure. It's 855 OSBA Law. Um and we are happy to take questions from people. We usually try to return calls within the same business day. Yeah. Um, if you're in an uh an emergency situation, just tell us that and we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Wow. Um and you guys, uh, that's why you're here. You're a great resource for our members uh who have questions about you know uh employee background checks or attendance issues and whatnot. And the fact sheets are great too. I encourage uh all of you to uh go to our website, ohioschoolballers.org, and you can find those legal fact sheets there on the topic today background checks and other legal topics. Jenny and Dustin, thank you so much for joining us here on the sidebar, and we will see you next time.