Title: Nevada School Background Check Bill Gets Senate Approval
In a move to require more thorough background checks for employees of the Nevada school district, the Nevada senate panel has unanimously passed a background check bill (Assembly Bill 362). The legislation has come in response to a recent sexual misconduct crisis in the Clark County School district dubbed Broken Trust, by investigative reporters.
Among other things, the law will prohibit districts from agreeing to keep sexual misconduct investigations under wraps. Additionally the law requires the districts’ job applicants to:
- be forthright about past allegations
- disclose whether there were pending allegations at a job they left
- reveal if they’ve had suspended or revoked licenses while allegations were pending
An advocate of the bill and president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation, Terri Miller, is quoted as saying, “Our state has had far too many cases of teachers abusing our trust. It appears to be an epidemic that is on the rise.”
The Value of Investigative Background Checks
Like the reporters who broke the Broken Trust story in Nevada, thorough background checks require an investigative philosophy and methodology. One of the incidents cited in Broken Trust is of an elementary school teacher who was arrested in 2012 for statutory rape of a high school student. The district’s response to the discovery was to agree to leave the incident undocumented in his personnel file in exchange for his resignation.
For many of us, there may not be children at risk if the background checks of our prospective employees or tenants fail, the risk is great enough to invest in thorough, investigative background checks to protect our companies, properties, assets, and employees.
Contact VICTIG to learn more.
