Syverson Reworking Bill Designed To Shed More Light On A Teacher’s Past

March 12th, 2008 at 05:23pm Andrea Zimmermann

Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said he is reworking his bill that aimed to help schools learn more about a job applicant’s past.

Late last week, Syverson’s bill was thrown into flux after it turned out that schools could already check the state-managed list of people who have been accused of sexual misconduct but never criminally charged.

Before the Rockford Republican could present his bill to the full Senate, however, a state agency noted existing law already allows a School District to learn about sexual misconduct in an applicant’s past.

The Department of Children and Family Services tracks potential child abusers — in which DCFS deems a complaint against somebody “founded” — and school districts can access the information if job applicants consent.

So Syverson is changing his course, saying he may introduce different legislation making it mandatory for schools to check applicant names against the DCFS list, something other agencies, like day-care providers, are required to do.

Today he said he is still working with the Department of Children and Family Services and the Illinois State Board of Education to figure out why it can take up to three months for a school district to find out whether an applicant is on such a list, and if there is some way to reduce the backlog.

He also said he is working with these state agencies to spread the word to school districts that they can access this list.

Entry Filed under: Illinois Senate, Dave Syverson, Illinois politics