It seems like on a weekly basis the various faux pas and missteps committed by states and their public service agencies in the way they mishandle background checks. The other side of the coin are the the occasional zealots who venture way beyond the parameters of acceptable measures in conducting background checks. As in one published case, the party demanded all job applicants provide him with their FaceBook and other social media user id’s so that he could review their sites for information he believed unbecoming to his office.
In some cases, those public officials ordering the background checks get carried away and order background screening reports for celebrities and for people who are not relevant to recruiting or the preemployment screening process. ABC Toledo published an article of one such individual who may have exceeded his office when the former school board administrator ordered background checks on non-district employees. He claimed he ran the background checks because the two persons were “extremely critical of the TPS,” or Toledo Public School System.
Forge3tting the fact that this former public school administrator is under investigation for stealing a half million dollars from the district, I would suspect he was conducting these questionable background checks in order to find dirt on his critics. Here in Los Angeles, of course,if you ran a background check on eveyrone who criticized the school district you could easily go broke. And the comes the issue of digging up dirt. Suppose you find it? Then what? Do you blackmail the people so they will shut up and stop bad mouthing you? Interesting prospect.
If the charges hold true, then the administrator would have abused his powers. It has happened before, and I am sure we wills ee headlines where it happens again. This kind of behavior is what makes people squeamish about background checks, in general. It is unsavory behavior and besmirches all those who perform background screening with courtesy and responsibility, and in obedience of the law.
It’s a shame, really, that when school boards and public agencies desperately need to conduct background checks but are at the same time experiencing budget constraints due to the lousy economy, that money is being spent for questionable or illegitimate purposes. Of course, in most cases, responsible county and metropolitan administrators don’t learn about this behavior until after the after. Until after the money has been spent. And when the person in quesiton is about to make headlines for himself and the school board or public service agency.
In this case, the Toledo school district is trying to recoup the money Burns spent for the questionable investigations. Sincerely, I hope they recover their money.