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February 10, 2006
MI: Lawmakers: Don't release list of school workers with convictions
Feb 8, 5:14 PM EST
Lawmakers: Don't release list of school workers with convictions
By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press Writer
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Some Republican lawmakers said Wednesday the state Department of Education should not immediately release the names of school workers with criminal convictions, partly echoing a call from the state's largest teachers' union.
Republican Sens. Ron Jelinek of Three Oaks and Mike Goschka of Brant said they have heard from school superintendents or others who say some teachers and others are wrongly included on the list. The report matching criminal history information with more than 200,000 school employees, which was sent to districts last week, should not be made public until the information is accurate, lawmakers said.
"We should reveal those found guilty of crimes but never those law-abiding individuals who have dedicated their lives to educating our children," said Jelinek, who added that school retirees are wrongly listed.
In a Friday memo to districts, state superintendent Mike Flanagan said the search of the State Police's criminal database - prompted by a new law targeting sex offenders - resulted in some "false positives" due to stolen Social Security numbers or matches involving common names. The check is believed to have revealed thousands of felony offenses, though it's unclear how many employees have multiple convictions.
The 160,000-member Michigan Education Association has won a court order temporarily barring the release of names to the media. It says lawmakers should pass a bill immediately withdrawing the list because of "mass" inaccuracies.
Sex offenses will result in firing. Those with felony convictions must receive approval from the superintendent and school board to stay employed.
Lawmakers, however, said the current list needs to be double-checked, not scrapped entirely.
Wednesday's comments from Senate Republicans differ from last's week announcement by House Republicans of a bill forcing the state to release the names.
A spokesman for House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, said Wednesday the list should be accurate but stressed that most of it already is, estimating that 24 of 25 names are correct. Matt Resch said the education department must have been confident with the list before sending it to districts last week.
"It is important that while we make sure innocent people aren't on the list by mistake, we also take action to remove those people who aren't innocent before they pose a threat to students," Resch said.
The education department was aware there would be some inaccuracies on the list because fingerprint checks are the only way to be 100 percent accurate, spokesman Martin Ackley said. All school employees aren't required to be fingerprinted until 2008.
Ackley said the department expects local districts to be the final filter to identify false-positives.
"Our primary focus is to identify employees who may pose a danger to children and remove them from the schools," he said.
But Margaret Trimer-Hartley, spokeswoman for the MEA, criticized the department, saying it could have used a more thorough database to check workers' criminal backgrounds. The union has received hundreds of calls from affected employees, she said.
"These are people's lives," Trimer-Hartley said. "Nothing should go public until we've done the kind of checking, the kind of verification that is owed people."
All sides are awaiting a Friday court hearing, when an Ingham County judge may rule on whether to continue an injunction against releasing the names.
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Posted by lois at February 10, 2006 10:03 AM