Within one month, two Evanston/Skokie School District 65 employees — former Teachers’ Union President Robert Carroll and Lincolnwood Elementary School custodian Robert Crayton — have been charged with felonies.
But these charges do not reflect a problem in the district’s hiring process, District 65 Director of Human Resources Helen Mardis said. Instead, Mardis said the district has been a pioneer in the hiring process by installing an electronic background checking process years before the state required it and helping to hire the best-qualified applicants for jobs.
In January 2000 the District 65 school board voted to hire outside contractor Sylvan/Identix, “an agency that we thought had a (good) reputation,” to conduct all background checks, Mardis said. The new background checks were faster and more accurate than the old background checking method, allowing the district to make faster and better informed employment decisions.
The Sylvan/Identix system, also used by Chicago Public Schools and United Airlines, conducts a fast and efficient background check by digitally scanning finger prints and sending them to state and federal authorities. A state law passed in July 2004 mandates that all Illinois school districts conduct checks this way.
“Now that we have electronic fingerprinting, everybody is sent to a location and they are fingerprinted within 24 to 48 hours,” Mardis said. “There is a search that’s not only a state search. We get two reports, one from the state and one from the FBI, to see if there is a conviction.”
Identix Logistics Manager Bob Holland said this quick transmission is helpful for employers for more reasons than the time turnover — it’s also far more accurate.
“Ink fingerprinting, according to statistics, is about 36 percent accurate, whereas ours is 99.3 percent,” Holland said.
Prior to electronic fingerprinting, District 65 conducted background checks by ink-rolling finger prints and sending the state a card with applicants’ information. This process sometimes took months, but the background check that was conducted provided the same information as the electronic background check.
After the background check, the district exercises discretion if candidates have been arrested numerous times but never convicted of a crime, Mardis said.
District 65 will not hire individuals convicted of sex offenses or drug offenses — offenses that Carroll and Crayton, respectively are charged with — among other convictions named on a list.
Carroll is charged with soliciting a minor for sex. Crayton, who is charged with selling cocaine on school grounds, was hired before 2000 and underwent the old background search.
But Mardis and Holland both said that check, while more inconvenient, makes no difference. If Crayton’s background had been checked with the newer method, he still would have been hired.
“The individual had no prior convictions, and if I recall, he did not have an arrest,” Mardis said.
The recent arrest, rather than pointing to the hiring process, points to circumstance.
“From my interaction with other school district, personnel, administrators, I find that we’re front runners (in background checking),” Mardis said. “Over the last four years, we’ve hired a couple hundred employees, and we’ve been pleased with the process.”
Reach Ben Clark at [email protected].