Vetting process for teachers involves background check

Adults wait their turn to be fingerprinted by local authorities in the Edward A. Greer Educational Center. Each has his fingers stained before the prints are sent to the FBI. In two to four weeks, each will receive a call, either OK'ing his record or rejecting it.

This is the start of the hiring process for potential teachers in the Clark County School District. Every applicant must go through a background check before being hired. If the person's record is clean, he proceeds to a vetting process. The district makes calls to the applicant's past employers to determine if he's suited to teach in Southern Nevada.

Both of these steps can uncover unsavory histories or expose inaccuracies.

If an applicant's fingerprints reveal a criminal history, the school district will likely pass on him, according to Staci Vesneske, chief human resources officer of the district.

She believes that first step deters potential rejects.

"If you have a felony ... you know you're going to be fingerprinted," she said. "You know you're not going to be eligible to be employed."

She added that there are dozens of things the administration looks out for during the vetting process.

For example, if someone lists a fellow teacher instead of a principal as a past supervisor on his application, it's one of many red flags.

"We have a list, but we don't give out all the things we check because we want to make sure that we're always ahead of the game in case there are individuals who are inclined to lie," Vesneske said.

Last year, the district turned down 40 to 50 applicants, which Vesneske called a "handful" of the 1,998 hired teachers.

Despite the administration's pre-employment filters, some teachers find trouble down the road.

In early June, a teacher at Rancho High School, 1900 E. Searles Ave., was arrested after a student told her parents the two had an ongoing sexual relationship. Another instructor at Foothill High School, 800 College Drive in Henderson, was sentenced to five years of probation in March 2014 for luring a student into an inappropriate relationship. She was also registered as a sex offender.

Last April, the student's parents filed a lawsuit against the school district for "deliberate indifference" toward the woman's alleged history of inappropriate conduct.

Mikah Mesa's son is a second-grader at Schorr Elementary School, 11420 Placid St. She feels that situations like these arise from a lack of thorough investigation before hiring.

"(The school district) should be more extensive because they have our kids in their hands for more than eight hours a day," she said.

However, Vesneske said such occurrences are not common because district officials keep a sharp lookout for any threats.

"When you look at some of the most recent public issues that have occurred, these have been employees who had a clean hiring record and have been working for us typically for a number of years," she said.

Local parents John and Daliya Anoya praise the district for hiring the right people to teach their two children.

"We have no problems with the teachers," Daliya said. "They've always been good with our kids. They work hard for them."

Even though the district's process has several filters, Vesneske said parents are an important part of keeping kids safe.

"If they think something seems odd with the behavior of any staff member, they should not feel shy," she said. "They should report it to the principal so we can follow up."

Ryan Yanagi, human capital management director for the district's human resources department, said 1,300 teachers have been hired since March 1. The employment cycle lasts through March 1, 2016, and then it begins again.

— To reach May Ortega, email mortega@reviewjournal.com or call 702-387-2908. Follow @MayVOrtega on Twitter.