Who Schools Should Background Check

Safeguarding the future of students’ lives begins with a proactive approach to security in educational institutions. While the first thing people typically think of with school background checks is teachers, the truth is that a quality background check for schools goes far beyond just those in the classroom. There are many school employees that need background checks, not to mention school volunteers. A great school background screening program acts as a guardian, protecting the educational landscape from potential hiring risks. What does a comprehensive and vigilant approach to background checks for school employees and volunteers look like? Let’s dive in.

Background Checks for School Employees & Volunteers

A quality background check for schools needs to cover multiple positions to ensure maximum safety. Considering all the people who filter on and off campus each day, this can be overwhelming to think about. Luckily, there are background screening vendors who know exactly what schools need to have a simple yet effective experience with their background checks. Let’s explore all the different types of people background checks for schools need to screen, plus take a high-level look at what these background checks will entail.

Teachers & Administrators

Like other pre-employment background checks, a background check for teachers or administrators needs to uncover important details about criminal records and verify a candidate’s credentials and experience. The core of any quality background check, these features offer a good picture of a candidate’s eligibility to teach at your school. However, since teachers work closely with vulnerable populations, schools often need an extra thorough approach to screening. 

A background check for school teachers and administrators will require thorough and accurate criminal background checks and verifications checks. These work together to ensure a candidate does not have a history of violence, sexual misconduct, or theft and to guarantee a teacher has the right certifications, education history, and experience needed for the role. Beyond these services, we recommend adding social media searches, employee monitoring, and occupational health to your background screening program to get the most comprehensive look at a teacher’s past and present.

Want to learn more about these services?
Look at this comprehensive catalogue of background check services.

Staff

School supervisors understand that overseeing a school is no easy task. Many different staff members beyond teachers interact with students daily – like janitors, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers. Since managing all the different positions at a school requires versatility and attention to detail, lean on your background screening provider to keep it simple. A great school background check should provide options like continuous criminal monitoring, MVR searches and driver monitoring, and random drug test management. These work together to make keeping tabs on your bus drivers and other staff members easier than ever.

Substitutes

Quality background checks for substitute teachers will likely look very similar to teacher background checks. Depending on how your school district runs, substitutes may already be background checked on a district or county level by the time they show up to your school. However, in case you do need to background check substitutes, it’s important to ensure their screening requirements are as rigorous as other teachers and staff at your school. Their background check will include services like a criminal history search, sex offender search, and employment and education verifications. There may be less of a need for employee monitoring compared to teachers, though, depending on the type of substitute working at your school.

Vendors & Volunteers

Another category of workers to background check at your school is your vendors and volunteers. Similar to staff members and substitutes, vendors will often be on campus or attending school events where they directly engage with your students. This calls for similar services to be included on their background checks. However, the process of background screening vendors and volunteers will need to be treated differently.

Working with a background screening partner who has dedicated programs for these unique positions allows maximum protection without added effort on your end. A great vendor screening program will take care of contract management, program compliance, invoicing, and criteria evaluations. Plus, you can reduce the cost of volunteer screening and vendor screening by choosing a background check provider that offers a self-pay model. 

Higher Education Background Checks

When it comes to background checks for colleges and universities, many of the roles you are hiring for will require similar screening protocols as grade school background checks. However, there are special circumstances that are essential to consider when background screening. Here are a few examples of people higher education institutions need to consider when building a background screening program.

Clinical Students

Does managing medical students’ clinical programs get confusing? There are background screening programs made just for medical students that are here to keep it simple. Manage the flow of students, make sure you’re meeting the hospital’s requirements, and send background check results to the hospitals with ease. Once a school gets connected through a quick implementation process, they can effortlessly and automatically have results sent to affiliated hospitals the moment they’re ready. Plus, you’ll receive  real-time updates throughout the entire process.

Greek Letter Organizations

Crime within Greek organizations has unfortunately contributed to issues on campus. Luckily, more fraternities and sororities have begun to screen their potential new members, staff, and board members. With background checks designed for Greek letter organizations, colleges and universities can rest easy knowing that risks are being mitigated early on in the recruiting and hiring processes, mitigating risk before it even begins. One great service for Greek background checks is social media screening, which flags problematic language on PNMs’ public profiles, even if they don’t have a criminal record.

A Background Screening Solution for Everyone at Your School

At InfoMart, we have helped schools and universities improve their campus safety for decades. With a team of FCRA-certified compliance experts and customer service representatives, we help schools run the right background checks on the right people, allowing supervisors to focus on serving their students and communities. Offering several programs like criminal monitoring, occupational health services, volunteer and vendor screening, MVR searches, and more, we have something for everybody.

Interested? We’re happy to give you more details and answer any questions. Reach out here or email us anytime!

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About Tammy Cohen

Tammy Cohen, an industry pioneer and expert in identity and employment screening, founded InfoMart 30 years ago. Deemed the “Queen of Screen,” she’s been a force behind industry-leading innovations. She was most recently the first-to-market with a fully compliant sanctions search, as well as a suite of identity services that modernizes talent onboarding. Tammy revolutionized the screening industry when she stepped into the field, developing the first client-facing application and a due diligence criminal search that has since become standard for all background screening companies. Cohen has received national awards and honors for her business and civic involvement, including Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 25 Women-Owned Firms in Atlanta, Enterprising Women Magazine’s Enterprising Women of the Year award, the YWCA of Northwest Georgia’s Kathryn Woods Racial Justice Award, and a commendation in the 152nd Congressional Record. To learn more about Tammy, visit www.tammycohen.com.

About InfoMart

InfoMart has been revolutionizing the global background and identity screening industry for 30 years, providing businesses the information they need to make informed hiring decisions. They develop innovative technology that modernizes talent onboarding, including a first-to-market biometric identity authentication application and a verified sanctions search. The WBENC-certified company is a founding member of the Professional Background Screening Association, and they have achieved PBSA accreditation in recognition of their consistent business practices and commitment to compliance with the FCRA. The company is dedicated to customer service, speed, and accuracy, and it has been recognized for its success, workplace culture, and corporate citizenship with over 45 industry awards. To Get the Whole Story on InfoMart, please visit www.InfoMart-USA.com, follow @InfoMartUSA, or call (770) 984-2727.