APS to do background check on all pre-1999 hires

District to pay $85K to vet 2K employees

Albuquerque Public Schools is requiring background checks from almost 2,000 employees hired before such vetting became mandatory in 1999.

Next week, APS will ask the first round of 300 people to come in for fingerprinting, continuing at that pace until the end of the school year, according to Karen Rudys, head of human resources.

It is one of several new rules the APS Board of Education approved last month to strengthen the much scrutinized background check system.

Rudys said addressing the “grandfathered” employees is a priority.

A few weeks ago, a pilot group of a dozen pre-1999 hires completed background checks conducted by the FBI through a system called 3M Cogent and everything went smoothly, Rudys said.

“It is a good process,” she said. “People were pleased with the efficiency.”

Rudys doesn’t anticipate any problems getting the rest of the roughly 2,000 employees fingerprinted, though it is a larger number of people than the district normally handles.

APS human resources will provide the necessary paperwork by email, so the employees can fill it out before coming to Central Office and save time. The district is covering the cost: $44 per person, or around $85,000 in all.

Any legal issues uncovered among the pre-1999 employees will be handled on an individual basis — the same process in place for dealing with new hires, Rudys said.

The board approved two other policy changes March 16 that have broader impact.

All APS employees are now required to repeat their background check every five years at their own expense, rather than complete it once at the time of hiring. Another new rule mandates that employees tell their supervisor about convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude, such as sex offenses, within five days.

APS board members and administrators stressed the need for tighter policies after a high-profile failure last summer.

Then-Deputy Superintendent Jason Martinez resigned Aug. 18 amid revelations that he was facing assault and child sex assault charges in Denver.

Martinez never completed a background check despite working for APS for a few months. The scandal also

months. The scandal also brought down new Superintendent Luis Valentino, who resigned Aug. 31.

Attorney General Hector Balderas and Gov. Susana Martinez launched investigations of background-check procedures in the wake of the two resignations. Both noted the legal loophole surrounding pre-1999 hires.

Balderas reiterated the importance of strictly vetting employees in a statement emailed to the Journal on Wednesday that urged “APS to exhaust all resources” to ensure that the grand- fathered employees submit to background checks immediately.

The New Mexico Public Education Department, which did a background check review at Martinez’s request, lamented the death of a bill that would have closed the pre-1999 loophole at all schools.

“The (APS) school board’s decision to strengthen their policy is a step in the right direction, but this should be the state law for every school and district in New Mexico,” PED spokesman Robert McEntyre wrote in a statement.