When hiring someone to take care of your children, wouldn’t you exercise utmost caution to ensure that person is who he or she says he is?  Now, take that scenario and apply it to pre-screening teachers at school.  With the quantity of time teachers spend with their students, you want to be extra sure those educators are who they say they are.  The way to confirm that is through a teacher background check.

The best verification process is a Social Security Number scan.  These results produce a person’s full name and age, as well as all past residences.  Unfortunately, 57% of the time discrepancies arise between what the teacher writes on his or her application and what official records say.  While not all discrepancies indicate unlawful behavior, 27% of criminal checks do come back with positive hits.

Several recent examples in schools across the country have demonstrated the need for thorough educator background checks.  A rash of sexual assaults sprang up in one high school in Plum, Pennsylvania this April.  Three teachers were arrested, two for having sexual relations with students, and the other for revealing the identity of one of the victims in class.

A similar event occurred in Minnesota at Mendota Heights high school.  Two teachers were charged with criminal sexual conduct and were being investigated.  Unfortunately, the investigations in this case started after the crimes were committed, rather than before.

At FORLETTA, we are dedicated to the safety of your friends and family in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas.  We have seen how crucial it is to perform thorough background checks on teachers who work in your schools with your children, so please don’t hesitate to call now.  If you are a parent in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, suggest that your school’s administration utilize FORLETTA’s services for screening new teachers, and if you are an educator, make sure your team is the best it can be with our pre-employment background check. If you want more details before calling us, take a look at our Education Investigation page.