Schools and our children - 2,500 ex-cons in school jobs.

Some 2,500 employees working in Michigan schools have been convicted of crimes, including sexual assault, homicide and kidnapping, according  to a report of recent criminal background checks obtained by The Detroit News.    More than 100 were sex crimes, which are immediate grounds for dismissal under tougher new school safety laws that went into effect Jan 1. "I'm shocked at the number of crimes they found."  said a 53 year old Ann Arbor father whose daughter had been sexually assaulted by her fourth grade teacher.  "It goes to show that they should have been doing that (background checks) with everyone they hire.  "You would think in light of the number of sex-related cases in the last few years involving teachers in the southeast Michigan school system, administrators would have taken it upon themselves to do a background check (on al employees)," said the father, whom The News is not naming to protect the identity of his daughter.  The background checks were prompted by new legislation, called the Student Safety Initiative, designed to protect kids from sex offenders in the classroom.  The state police cross-checked its database of known criminals with the Department of Education's school employee database.  Now its up to the school district to determine whether anyone will be fired.

The background checks found 23 school employees had been convicted of crimes.  It will be up to their discretion on whether the employees will be terminated. 

Sunday January 22, 2006 The Detroit Newspaper

Log on to familywatchdog.us for more information.