Assembly OKs Bill on School Workers’ Background Checks

SACRAMENTO — Two bills aimed at speeding up background checks of prospective school workers won easy Assembly approval Thursday as backers cited the slaying of an 18-year-old student on a Sacramento County school campus this month.

“This will close loopholes and assure this can never happen again,” said Assemblywoman Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento).

Michelle Montoya’s body was found May 16 in the wood shop of Rio Linda High School, north of Sacramento. A newly hired substitute janitor, Alex Del Thomas, has been charged with the murder.

School officials say the janitor was allowed to start work before a state background check was completed. He had served nearly 12 years in prison for a 1982 robbery conviction and a 1986 manslaughter and robbery conviction.

Current law requires school districts to submit fingerprints of non-teaching employees to the state Department of Justice within 10 working days of employment. But that law exempts substitute and temporary employees.

The law does not require districts to wait until receiving results before letting the applicant begin work. The law also prohibits school districts from hiring teachers with criminal backgrounds, but says nothing about non-teaching jobs.

One bill would prohibit school districts from employing anyone convicted of a violent or serious felony and would give the Department of Justice $5 million to create a fast electronic fingerprinting system with terminals located around the state. That bill, by Assemblywoman Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks), was sent to the Senate on a 76-0 vote.

The other bill, by Ortiz, would prohibit school districts from employing people before their background checks are complete and would require the state to determine within three days whether applicants have been arrested or convicted of any crimes. It went to the Senate on a 77-0 vote.

The Senate last week approved a bill that would also create a statewide computer network that schools could use to run background checks on applicants. The bill by Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) would let counties impose a $1-per-vehicle surcharge to pay for computer terminals.