Whitehall not conducting background checks?

By Dan King

Whitehall Central School has brought on a substantial amount of staff members, bus drivers and substitutes this school year, and a few school members are concerned those new members aren’t undergoing proper background checks.

When two more bus drivers were brought on by the district during Monday’s board of education meeting, board members James Brooks and Jeremy Putorti spearheaded a conversation about adequate background checks, or what they perceived as a lack there of.

“I think it is important that we have fingerprints and background checks done,” Brooks said.

Putorti added, “For the security of our students, I think these background checks should be done before they ever enter the building.”

District Clerk Martha Bascue said that the state law allows for five days before the completion of the background check and fingerprinting; Putorti found that unacceptable.

“I’d be a proponent of conducting background checks before they ever set foot on the grounds,” Putorti said.

These concerns come less than a week after multiple school officials and a law enforcement official, all requesting anonymity, confirmed that the district had hired a staff member at the elementary school who turned out to have an arrest warrant.

“I’m concerned that they aren’t doing proper background checks,” one source said. “It’s not good when you hire someone to be around kids and that person turns out to have a warrant for their arrest.”

When asked if they had heard those concerns, Putorti and Brooks both declined to comment.

Putorti responded by saying, “I just want to make sure we have a policy on the books that we are conducting background checks for every hire.”

Superintendent Liz Legault, who is leaving the district, reassured Putorti and Brooks that the district was conducting background checks on all of the new hires and substitutes.

“We’re bringing in a lot of substitutes, I just want to make sure they are all getting background checks,” Putorti concluded.