educationvirtual children by Scott Warnock

NJ board of ed background checks: $388,000 schools won’t have

I have been a volunteer New Jersey school board member since 2004. This year, I was informed that a new law requires all New Jersey board of ed members to undergo background checks. Then I learned that included fingerprinting. Then I learned the process would cost $81.

I’m angry. You might think that I’m angry because this process will cost me $81. No. Like the two that I serve on, many, maybe most, school boards were compelled to create resolutions to reimburse their members for the background checks. I’m not angry that schools are reimbursing their volunteers—I voted “yes” to those resolutions, even though I decided not to collect my $81 from either of my schools—but that lawmakers put the schools and the board of ed volunteers in that position in the first place.

According to the New Jersey School Board Association, there are 4,800 school board members, so this initiative could cost schools a stealthy $388,000. To make this clear, when I say “schools,” what I mean is “taxpayers.” If you’ve been following the news, New Jersey is cash-strapped. If you live in Jersey, how many programs did your school cut last year because of funding deficits?

Ah, you say, but these are background checks. Who could speak out against the humble background check? I don’t want any embezzlers, pedophiles, or drug dealers on my school board. I don’t want them living next to me, delivering my mail, or running my mutual funds either. But the proliferation of background checks for all kinds of jobs is a sign of our overly-insured, overly-litigious, overly-cautious, no-fault society. Background checks have become untouchable, as we’ve been lulled into believing such screening will make everything safe.

The overuse of background checks is basically a regulatory effort to do the impossible: Protect ourselves from the future. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in his very interesting book The Black Swan, voices frustration at what he calls the “the scandal of prediction”: “… in spite of the empirical record we continue to project into the future as if we were good at it.” Along the way, Taleb quotes Yogi Berra, who once said, “It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

A background check will identify repeat offenders, and we do want a mechanism to keep certain offenders out of certain positions, like preventing sex offenders from being teachers, coaches, or, I guess, priests. But a wide blanket of costly background checks cloaks the reality that screening for past offenses will not prevent future actions.

I’m a volunteer wrestling coach, and I needed a background check as of two years ago to continue in that role. This particular check made sense to me considering my role as a coach and the nominal cost it imposed on us volunteers: about $15.

But for school board members? Are they looking for crimes against children? As a volunteer school board member, there is always a piece of furniture, usually a table but sometimes a podium, between me and any children. The New Jersey School Boards Association itself says, “Fulfilling the responsibilities of school board office does not require an individual board member to have contact with public school students. In fact, outside a legally constituted meeting, an individual board member has no more authority than that of any other citizen.”

Will the law weed out embezzlers? Would-be embezzlers would be better off heading up to Wall St. rather than trying to pluck funds from a school, which has a sizable group of ethical volunteers and paid administrators (who already undergo background checks) overseeing and double-checking financial decisions.

Will the law catch drug dealers? I can see drug kingpins plotting about how lucrative it would be to a get elected to that sweet spot on the local board of ed. Their muscle can keep an eye on the corners while they attend the monthly meetings.

This $81 background check is a sizable cost to New Jersey schools for a negligible return. School board members are very low risk to commit in their role any of the crimes they are screened for. This $81 background check is not part of your process to attain the big paycheck of school board service; we’re volunteers who get a slice of cake or a cookie once in a while. And this $81 background check is an irresponsible burden to place, ultimately, on taxpayers.

I was so frustrated and angry about this law that I contemplated resigning from both of my boards. Then I thought maybe I just would not comply until I got booted. But a certain underlying spirit led me to volunteer for my local school, and who, if anyone, would suffer for my resistance? The schools. My stance in either case would be aggravation for the administration and my board of ed colleagues. I’m a volunteer, so I’ll stick my fingertip on the ink pad so I can keep trying to help out. And it’s that attitude that makes people like me, and our schools, easy marks for $81 fees that will further delude us into thinking we’re protected from, well, everything.

Scott Warnock is a writer and teacher who lives in South Jersey. He is a professor of English at Drexel University, where he is also the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. Father of three and husband of one, Scott is president of a local high school education foundation and spent many years coaching youth sports.

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7 Responses to “NJ board of ed background checks: $388,000 schools won’t have”

  1. As Raymond Chandler wrote in The Big Sleep:

    “He didn’t know the right people. That’s all a police record means in this rotten crime-ridden country.”

  2. Because you have to be relatively selfless to serve on a local school board–it’s a thankless job–perhaps the State feels that anyone who would volunteer must have ulterior motives. This says something about a society that believes people only do things out of greed or self-interest. But maybe they’re afraid that you will jump over the furniture ( table or podium) and attack the children. Legislators probably don’t know that children don’t attend school board meetings.

  3. The Wire, Season 6:
    “I can see drug kingpins plotting about how lucrative it would be to a get elected to that sweet spot on the local board of ed. Their muscle can keep an eye on the corners while they attend the monthly meetings.”

    Nice work.

  4. I agree with you entirely. Two things… First, this will punish the good person who had an unfortunate run in with the law during their late teens more than it will weed out the true felons. And second, I just had a background check done including the full fingerprinting. It’s quite neat these days. No more fun black ink. All computerized, full 5 fingers each hand and each finger from side to side all in about 30 seconds, all the while seeing every love line of every finger on a giant monitor. Gotta love technology.

  5. What’s next:, a TB test?

    The School Boards Association should lobby to have this repealed. I bet Governor Christie would have some “gentle” words about this one if he knew about it.

  6. UGH

    Sagem Morpho must have one heck of a lobbyist!

  7. Great comments. I especially like the touch of attacking what appears to be a nominal fee and exposing it for what it truly is….a punitive tax. This type of waste is repeated in so many forms it is staggering. Need I breath the word bureaucracy.

    Another point that isn’t brought up is the filterring process that is involved with becoming a School Board Member. Board of Ed Members are elected by the community. Shouldn’t this group be prepared and involved enough to care who they put in the seat in the first place. I know, I know, that is another can of worms for another day.

    Lastly, great article you have me upset which means you hit a nerve. I think this should be presented up the ladder to to the State Legislature. Oops they are lawyers though and probably made this law to begin with. Should we be following the money? Sorry once again I can’t stay on target. I always seem to want to boil the ocean.

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