NY Passes Fingerprint Bill Requiring Background Checks on School Employees

The New York State Senate passed Senate Bill S3335, or the Fingerprint Bill, which requires all religious and private schools in New York to run fingerprints and a background check on potential employees.

Nonpublic and private elementary and secondary schools would require their prospective employees to submit fingerprints through the commissioner of education for the purpose of criminal background checks. The bill also authorizes conditional appointment of employees by such schools pending determination of the criminal background check.

In the bill, they used the following justification: "In 2006, a private high school in New Orleans hired a teacher without knowing he was a registered sex offender. The teacher had two convictions for indecent exposure and had previously been stripped of his license to teach in Texas. The private high school was unaware of his sex offender status because they had failed to fingerprint and properly check his background."

Many hope the bill will decrease the chances of incidents like this from happening in schools.

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