纽约州议会和纽约州参议院悬而未决的一项新立法可能会改变该州完成学校雇员背景调查的方式。

每从一个报告 时报莱杰，总部设在皇后区周报，该法案是国家女议员尼莉·罗齐奇的工作。参议员托德·卡明斯基介绍了该法案的参议院版本。该立法将要求  对纽约所有学校的所有员工进行指纹识别和政府开展的犯罪背景调查。该法案的既定目标是防止学校发生性虐待和掠夺性行为。

目前，一些学校员工需要进行背景调查和指纹识别，但前提是他们在公立学校工作并与学生有接触。潜在员工必须通过纽约刑事司法服务部和联邦调查局 (FBI) 提交犯罪背景调查。这些人也需要指纹识别。

该法律不适用于私立学校，并且免除其工作本身不涉及与学生接触的学校雇员。

Rozic/Kaminsky 法案将扩大现有法律的要求，以包括私立学校。目前，纽约的私立学校可以建立自己的员工审查标准和策略。在援引 TimesLedger 的话说，一位倡导此类立法的私人执业律师表示，它将保护该州“超过 400,000 名非公立学校儿童”。

虽然私立学校从未被要求在背景调查方面遵循州内其他地区的要求，但这并不意味着这些学校没有对员工进行审查。10 月，纽约州独立学校协会 (NYSAIS) 宣布将对 2018/19 学年制定新要求。作为背景调查过程的一部分，该协会的任务要求所有成员学校对其潜在员工进行指纹识别。NYSAIS 是纽约近 200 所私立和独立学校的协会。

这项新立法是否会填补 Rozic、Kaminsky 和该立法的支持者期望它填补的空白？

指纹识别通常被认为是犯罪史筛查的黄金标准，但该过程的批评者指出，它并不像许多人认为的那样彻底。例如， 并非所有犯罪记录都带有指纹数据。指纹 都 往往与逮捕记录，但纽约州的法律 ，从考虑雇用目的逮捕记录条雇主 ，除非逮捕涉及到仍然悬而未决的刑事指控。

通过将学校员工背景调查范围扩大到 所有 潜在员工——而不仅仅是那些职位被认为“与孩子有接触”的员工——Rozic/Kaminsky 法案可以帮助填补纽约学校审查过程中的一些空白。将法律扩展到私立学校也可能限制掠夺者和施虐者在该州学校找到工作的机会。

Per a report from the Times Ledger, a weekly newspaper based in Queens, the bill is the work of State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic. Senator Todd Kaminsky introduced the Senate version of the bill. The legislation would mandate fingerprinting and government-run criminal background checks for all employees at all schools in New York. The stated goal of the bill is to prevent sexual abuse and predatory behavior in schools.

Currently, background checks and fingerprinting are required for some school employees, but only if they work in public schools and have contact with students. Prospective employees must submit for criminal background checks through both the New York Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Fingerprinting is also required for these individuals.

The law does not apply to private schools and exempts school employees whose jobs do not inherently involve contact with students.

The Rozic/Kaminsky bill would extend the requirements of the existing law to include private schools. Right now, private schools in New York can establish their own standards and strategies for vetting employees. In a quote to the TimesLedger, a private practice attorney who has advocated for legislation of this ilk said it would extend protections to “more than 400,000 non-public school children” in the state.

While private schools have never been required to follow the rest of the state regarding background check requirements, that doesn’t mean those schools haven’t been vetting their employees. In October, the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) announced that it would be instituting a new requirement for the 2018/19 school year. The association’s mandate requires all member schools to fingerprint their prospective employees as part of the background check process. NYSAIS is an association of nearly 200 private and independent schools throughout New York.

Will this new legislation fill the gaps that Rozic, Kaminsky, and proponents of the legislation expect it to fill?

Fingerprinting is often cited as the gold standard for criminal history screening, but critics of the process note that it is less thorough than many people believe it to be. For instance, not all criminal records are filed with fingerprinting data. Fingerprints are often linked to arrest records, but New York law bars employers from considering arrest records for hiring purposes unless the arrests pertain to still-pending criminal charges.

By extending school employee background checks to include all prospective employees—not just those whose positions are deemed to “have contact with children”—the Rozic/Kaminsky bill could help to fill in some gaps in New York’s school vetting process. Extending the law to private schools could also limit the opportunities for predators and abusers to find jobs at schools in the state.