Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Protection topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Panel approves bill to let private and charter schools request DCS substantiation checks for hires
Summary
HB 2475 would require public charter and private schools, and allow community programs, to check new hires against the Tennessee Department of Children's Services substantiation database. Sponsor cited a Chattanooga case where a flagged employee moved between schools.
Representative Alexander (speaker 24) described HB 2475 and amendment 14,418 as requiring that public charter and private schools check new hires against the DCS substantiation database; he said Boys & Girls Clubs and Head Start programs asked to be included so they could request access as well. "Basically what happened in Chattanooga is we had a situation where we had someone who was fired by a charter school for abuse and then went to another school that did not check database," the sponsor said.
Legal services (Katie Robertson, speaker 12) responded that childcare agencies are exempt from licensing but can request DCS to run checks for volunteers and potential employees; she noted private schools already face some safety and background-check requirements and that the bill is a safety measure to reduce the risk of allowing previously substantiated individuals to move between providers. The committee adopted the amendment and voted to advance HB 2475 to GovOps (vote recorded 17 ayes, 0 nays).
