HARRISBURG – A proposal from Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Bucks & Lehigh Counties would require criminal history checks for prospective employees with direct contact with children or who will perform work at a school. Independent contractors would be required to inform school entities of any abuse or sexual misconduct investigations prior to assigning an employee to perform work at a school, allowing the school to object to such assignment. Coleman said a recent incident at a school in his district highlighted a flaw in PA’s school employee and contractor background check requirements. An employee of an independent contractor was assigned to work twice on a school’s campus, at least once when students were present, even though the employee was a Tier 3 registered sex offender and the contractor had not provided a background check to the school. Coleman says decisions of whether to obtain background checks for all employees working at a school and to assign a registered sex offender to perform work at a school should not be left to a contractor’s discretion. A co-sponsorship memo seeking support of the bill is being circulated.
SEN. JARRETT COLEMAN