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Background checks spotty for school staff
Saturday, May 12, 2007 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND (AP) - Until he was charged this week with sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl, nobody at Southridge High School knew the details of two criminal convictions against the cheerleading coach before he was hired.
David Aaron Chatman, 32, was hired at Southridge in 2003. His alleged victim was a member of the Tigard-based West Coast Extreme All-Star Cheerleading team, where he also worked.
Critics say people with a questionable history can be hired for nonteaching jobs partly because criminal background checks in Oregon are spotty and lack specifics, despite increasing scrutiny of workers who come in contact with children.
Hiring a coach or an activity adviser at an Oregon school requires only a $5 criminal background check and leaves it up to school officials to decide whether the record is serious enough to reject an applicant - such as sex crimes.
An Oregon Department of Education background check showed Chatman had convictions but offered no details. In 1997, Chatman was convicted of misdemeanor assault, felony embezzlement and a felony probation violation - crimes not severe enough to put him on the no-hire list.
“Oregon's restrictions are minimal restrictions,” said Randy Kayfes, Beaverton schools public safety officer. “The laws in place aren't very strict for the people they allow in the classroom. Oregon could improve the situation by allowing institutions to see exactly what the charges are instead of just saying there are charges out there.”
Across the country, state leaders are mandating federal background checks for workers who come in contact with children and lengthening the list of crimes that could put them in the no-hire category.
The $5 state background check, which screens only Oregon records, was all Beaverton School District leaders used to determine whether Chatman was fit to work with teenagers.
School officials did not consider Chatman a district employee, though he was paid $3,700 a year to work with 40 Southridge cheerleaders.
They also said Chatman should not have been unsupervised with students.
“But this has caused us to look at whether we should be backgrounding coaches more carefully in case they are left unsupervised,” said district spokeswoman Maureen Wheeler.
David Aaron Chatman, 32, was hired at Southridge in 2003. His alleged victim was a member of the Tigard-based West Coast Extreme All-Star Cheerleading team, where he also worked.
Critics say people with a questionable history can be hired for nonteaching jobs partly because criminal background checks in Oregon are spotty and lack specifics, despite increasing scrutiny of workers who come in contact with children.
Hiring a coach or an activity adviser at an Oregon school requires only a $5 criminal background check and leaves it up to school officials to decide whether the record is serious enough to reject an applicant - such as sex crimes.
An Oregon Department of Education background check showed Chatman had convictions but offered no details. In 1997, Chatman was convicted of misdemeanor assault, felony embezzlement and a felony probation violation - crimes not severe enough to put him on the no-hire list.
“Oregon's restrictions are minimal restrictions,” said Randy Kayfes, Beaverton schools public safety officer. “The laws in place aren't very strict for the people they allow in the classroom. Oregon could improve the situation by allowing institutions to see exactly what the charges are instead of just saying there are charges out there.”
Across the country, state leaders are mandating federal background checks for workers who come in contact with children and lengthening the list of crimes that could put them in the no-hire category.
The $5 state background check, which screens only Oregon records, was all Beaverton School District leaders used to determine whether Chatman was fit to work with teenagers.
School officials did not consider Chatman a district employee, though he was paid $3,700 a year to work with 40 Southridge cheerleaders.
They also said Chatman should not have been unsupervised with students.
“But this has caused us to look at whether we should be backgrounding coaches more carefully in case they are left unsupervised,” said district spokeswoman Maureen Wheeler.
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