School is generally a safe place for students. Unless one of their teachers has a criminal background. Until recently Texas has not had a formal background check for educators. However, most districts peform their own checks.

On June 15, 2007 Governor Rick Perry signed into law Senate Bill 9  (SB 9). SB 9 requires all school employees certified after Jan. 1, 2008 to be finger printed. Freshman Geography teacher, Mrs. McGuinness was fingerprinted in 2006.

“It’s for the safety of the child,” Mrs. McGuinness said. “I have no problem with it.”

The cost to be tested is about $50 which is either paid by the employee or by the school district. MISD will reimburse any employee for the procedure.

“I was okay with [paying for] it,” Mrs. McGuinness said. “It wasn’t an option.”

A public school may refuse to hire or discharge any employee that has not completed the finger printing process by the deadline. The state will conduct testing at each campus on an assigned day.  Mrs. McGuinnes believes the background check is a good idea, but doesn’t think anything will come of it.

“I would feel shocked that [a co-worker] was able to hide it for this long,” Mrs. McGuinness said.

Despite the logic behind required fingerprinting, freshman Alexa Gomez believes teachers should be dependable.

“I don’t think they should have to get fingerprinted,” Gomez said. “I think we should be able to trust our teachers enough.”