Teacher with past criminal record (degree, misdemeanor, background, principal)

[scocar]

I have a situation in that I got into the teaching game sort of late. When I was pursuing my degree I never game much thought to my criminal record. In most cases when applying for jobs they ask about felonies. I have a misdemeanor assault and a misdemeanor criminal damage conviction from 15 and 18 years ago. Without getting into a ton of detail the incidents were both due to altercations with a crazy ex-wife, when I came to her house to pick my kids up. She now takes lithium to control her bipolar disorder. She was never hurt or injured, I simply pushed her away from me. But she called the police and they pretty much take someone away, and it's usually the guy.

These occurrences happened in Arizona. I got my AZ teaching in 2005 (so the convictions were 8 and 11 years old at that time). I had to appeal an initial denial for my fingerprint clearance card but was issued it after the appeal. I also had to give detailed explanation and get character references before my teaching license was granted. In Arizona I interviewed for 3 social studies positions and was offered all three of them. I took the one I liked best and stayed their 6 years until moving this past year to Missouri. Since moving to Missouri I have obtained my Missouri teaching license and applied for about 20 different positions. I've been called for one screening interview and one actual job interview.

My worry is that in Missouri there may be more teaching applicants than AZ (especially than AZ had 7 years ago) and my record is causing principals to look the other way and not ask me to come in for interviews.

So here is my question. And I don't want speculation, I can do that. Do you know of administrators or are you an administrators and would my situation cause you to bypass my application. Or are you a teacher with a similar situation and have you found it exceedingly difficult to find a job and feel it is because of your record?

[TabulaRasa]

Missouri DESE used to have a way to search their website so that you could see the results of your criminal background search. I don't know if it's on there since they revamped their website last summer, though.

I would check with DESE, but my initial thought is that if they granted your certificate to begin with, your criminal record is clean for the purposes of school background checks.

I know for a fact that a school I've worked for has hired educators with distant past pot-related misdemeanors (not myself; I was overly paranoid about a freaking parking violation I've been disputing forever!).

[lkb0714]

If there is a glut of teachers, and at least in my state social studies teachers are always easy to find, then admins pick someone who is bright and shiny on paper. Why would they take a chance on a person with a record if they don't have to?

[TabulaRasa]

It makes sense to me that your area of certification is more likely the culprit, since social studies is not an area where there are shortages.

[Eresh]

If you have already have your teaching certificate, they might no go further back than 10-15 years an another background check. In my state, it's up to individual districts to do additional background checks (aside from the state licensing agency), and some are way more lenient than others.

[germaine2626]

I don't know how different states or districts handle matters such as that however I have a comment to add.

After I retired from teaching i applied with several school districts to be a substitute teacher. My application was held up for one of the districts because they had to check with the state where I had taught thirty three years earlier. This district checked court records for every state where you lived after you were 18 no matter how long ago you lived there.

[scocar]

When I was fingerprinted in Missouri those convictions came up. So I had to go through a process of submitting an explanation, sending court records from AZ, and getting several character references. After doing these things Missouri promptly granted me my license.

The issue is that every place I've applied they've asked on the application about a criminal record and then you have the opportunity to explain. So I'm not going to lie and say that I don't have one. So the issue is not whether it would come up, but whether a principal would ignore it given the fact that I taught 6 years with no issues and the things happened so long ago.

[germaine2626]

My opinion is that most principals would not penalize you for something like that which happened 15 to 18 years in the past. However, if it was down to the final two people and both were exactly equal it may be used as a tie-breaker not in your favor. The good part is that it is unusual for two people to be exactly equal when applying for a job.

[chshepherd]

I, too, am ruminating over similar questions. I have not even attempted to be granted a teaching license from any state, but have considered CO, AZ, and MO. Your post gives me some hope, but your record is not as extreme as mine. Differences aside, I have put some time between me and the incident in question. If you wish to see a full detailed explanation of my crime, look for my recent post "Aspiring Early Education Teacher..." For me, it has been about 5 years and I will get the record expunged in two years (I believe to get a felony expunged it requires 7 years with no incident in CA). I recently tried to become a marine, but was told my felony automatically disqualifies me. Is this the same for teachers?

[Daniel_G017]

Jeez o man, I'm in the SAME exact boat, and it's like a bad dream... I'm devasted. 32 years old, not a thing on my record, have a B.S. and MPA and have been working for years in several nonprofits in marketing-related/community outreach roles. Well, it's all in jeapordy now... got mixed up with this extremely toxic woman, she was also on a lot of prescription drugs, diagnosed with bipolar (which I didnt even know until the night of the incident).. basically we were on and off for 6 months, we are on the fritz/breaking up once and for all, I went to return soem of her items to her, she chased me down, so we talked in my car at length- she was getting messages from someone else, like a dummy, I tried to get her to show me, well of course she wouldnt, and was refusing to leave my car, I asked her a dozen times to get out and she refused, it was about 1:30 am on a work night and I was so tired. To finally get her away from my car so I could drive away I splashed this water bottle at her so she stepped away and I sped off... come to find out next day she made this insane police report saying all these crazy things, none of which were true, and like most, dug my own grave my talking to the cops and telling them the God's honest truth. So I spent a night in jail and now have a assault DV and disorderly conduct charge. It's like a bad dream... so anywho I have a lawyer, but its in AZ and no matter what the outcome, I fear it will still come up on a federal FBI background check with a diversion/dismissal. So it's gonna be an uphill battle. I've always wanted to go back to school to be a language arts teacher or most importantly a school counslor, except jobs are few and far in between so Ive been debating for years. I feel it's my calling to help youth as I came from a troubled home.. hence why I attract crazy narcissists as a co-dependent, letting ppl walk all over me. I've learned so much through this, and I pray it doesnt haunt me.. it's so messed up. Should've never admitted it without lawyer cause she wanted to drop charges, but once I admitted to splashing water, the state steps in. That's my story for now, hope it doesnt affect my future, and I'm forced to do menial labor or serving jobs.