How Employee Monitoring Keeps Schools Safe
September 22 2022
In the U.S., students spend 8,884 hours on average completing primary and secondary lower education. This means that students spend an overwhelming amount of their key developmental years with their peers and teachers, as well as school faculty and staff members. Growing up, the people with whom we spend the most time unquestionably affect the quality of our education, our attitudes towards learning, our mental health, and the development of our personalities.
Leaders in education have little control over which students attend their schools, but it is within their power to hire great role models for students. It’s critical that school leaders ensure students receive their educations from qualified individuals who pose no risk to students’ safety, well-being, and development.
Running background checks on teachers and staff members at the time-of-hire is a prerequisite to job offers. However, the moment a background check gets completed, the criminal data is already stale and out of date. Initial background checks also do not allow you to monitor for any changes in behavior and activities of current employees. Luckily, the latest innovation in background screening helps, allowing supervisors to regularly monitor employees’ criminal records, motor vehicle records, and more. Read on to learn how employee monitoring contributes to building a safe and productive learning environment.
4 Ways Continuous Monitoring Helps Educational Organizations
Maintain a Safe Learning Environment
School supervisors understand that overseeing a school is no easy task. Since many different staff members interact with students daily – teachers, administrators, janitors, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers – managing a school requires versatility and great attention to detail. To maintain school safety, leaders in education must keep tabs on every point of contact to ensure no student is ever put in harm’s way, which is undoubtedly a lot to keep up with.
That’s where employee monitoring comes in. Usually, supervisors have the option to run annual background checks on current employees to ensure their behavior still aligns with the school’s values, policies, and safety protocols.
With continuous criminal monitoring, school supervisors automatically receive near-real-time alerts of a current teacher or staff member’s arrest. This means schools have the freedom to remove an item from their busy agenda without sacrificing safety. Criminal monitoring ensures that no one on your team has recently been arrested for violent crimes or added to the registered sex offender list, putting students, parents, and employees at ease.
Foster a Drug-Free Zone
Students learn from the time they play on playgrounds to the time they graduate that schools are drug-free zones. However, trouble arises when educators don’t practice what they teach. Drug-free policies in education go both ways for a reason; it takes a clear, functional mind both to learn and to teach.
The good news? These issues are preventable. Criminal monitoring is the easiest and most reliable way to ensure that teachers, faculty, and staff represent your school’s drug-free policies and support a safe, productive learning environment. Without having to lift a finger, supervisors receive immediate alerts when an employee’s behavior leads to an arrest, including those related to drug or alcohol abuse.
Every situation is unique, so it’s up to schools to decide how to proceed with each case. Continuous criminal monitoring simply provides the information school leaders need to keep schools safe and functional. Talk to your background check provider about incorporating drug testing into your screening package for an added layer of security.
Ensure Students Get To & From School Safely
We know that school bus safety is a top priority for school leaders. With American students 70 times more likely to get to school safely by taking the school bus instead of traveling by car, it’s clear that these safety efforts pay off. However, you can never be too safe. You likely already run background checks on newly hired school bus drivers, but it’s important to check with a professional background screening organization to see what other services you need to ensure maximum safety.
You can use background screening to verify drivers have clean motor vehicle records. This is great for predicting how safe employees will drive based on their past behaviors, but it does not account for current employees’ recent driving habits and actions outside of work. People change, and negative change that goes unnoticed can be costly and dangerous. When you monitor school bus drivers, you will know immediately when a driver is charged with an offense that could put students at risk, even if that arrest occurred outside of work hours. This way, you can act quickly to prevent accidents before they happen, allowing students to get to and from school safely.
Protects Greek Organizations
We know that running background checks on educators and staff members protects educational institutions but, in some cases, college students need to be screened, too. For example, security experts recommend that leaders of Greek chapters screen their potential recruits. Though Greek organizations at post-secondary educational institutions are not technically businesses, their leaders typically must run them like businesses.
Your fraternity or sorority likely strives to uphold a brand – one that values service, aptitude, and good character. Getting to know recruits during rush is only one piece of the puzzle. If you want to Get the Whole Story, screening candidates will provide the extra layer of security you need to make informed recruitment decisions.
However, adjusting to college life and being alone for the first time can lead students with even the cleanest records to make decisions that put your Greek organization at risk. Adding continuous criminal monitoring to your screening strategy is the safest and easiest way to ensure that current members continue to uphold your organization’s values. With this service, you immediately receive updates whenever a member gets arrested, allowing you to protect your sorority or fraternity from costly lawsuits or negative press.
A Safe Learning Environment Relies on Being in the Know
Employee monitoring is the easiest and most reliable way to maintain an up-to-date picture of your organization. This added layer of security eliminates the need for annual background checks while contributing to school safety and productivity.
At InfoMart, we understand that different school systems and businesses have unique needs. That’s why our PBSA-certified background screening professionals work hard to deliver customizable solutions with compliance always built in. Reach out to one of our sales professionals to learn more about how employee monitoring will help your educational organization reach its goals.
I would love to hear your thoughts on criminal monitoring initiatives in the education industry; add me on LinkedIn to keep in touch.
About Tammy Cohen
Tammy Cohen, an industry pioneer and expert in identity and employment screening, founded InfoMart 30 years ago. Deemed the “Queen of Screen,” she’s been a force behind industry-leading innovations. She was most recently the first-to-market with a fully compliant sanctions search, as well as a suite of identity services that modernizes talent onboarding. Tammy revolutionized the screening industry when she stepped into the field, developing the first client-facing application and a due diligence criminal search that has since become standard for all background screening companies. Cohen has received national awards and honors for her business and civic involvement, including Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 25 Women-Owned Firms in Atlanta, Enterprising Women Magazine’s Enterprising Women of the Year award, the YWCA of Northwest Georgia’s Kathryn Woods Racial Justice Award, and a commendation in the 152nd Congressional Record.
About InfoMart
InfoMart has been revolutionizing the global background and identity screening industry for 30 years, providing businesses the information they need to make informed hiring decisions. They develop innovative technology that modernizes talent onboarding, including a first-to-market biometric identity authentication application and a verified sanctions search. The WBENC-certified company is a founding member of the Professional Background Screening Association, and they have achieved PBSA accreditation in recognition of their consistent business practices and commitment to compliance with the FCRA. The company is dedicated to customer service, speed, and accuracy, and it has been recognized for its success, workplace culture, and corporate citizenship with over 45 industry awards. To Get the Whole Story on InfoMart, please visit www.InfoMart-USA.com, follow @InfoMartUSA, or call (770) 984-2727.