Five hundred Hawaii Island public school employees still haven’t been brought back to work this fall after the state Department of Education shifted the responsibility for background checks to the island district level. Five hundred Hawaii Island public school employees
Five hundred Hawaii Island public school employees still haven’t been brought back to work this fall after the state Department of Education shifted the responsibility for background checks to the island district level.
West Hawaii Complex Area Superintendent Art Souza said the island has 1,500 employees that were affected by the changes. He said the background checks were for casual employees and 89-day hires, categories that cover employees from tutors to cafeteria workers to playground supervisors.
“It is a problem we’re dealing with,” Souza said. “A bottleneck has been created.”
In past years, DOE’s Office of Human Resources took care of the background checks, Souza said. This year, schools were told the districts would do those. Souza said on the Big Island, just one office in Hilo became responsible for the entire island’s background checks.
The backlog prevented hundreds of employees from being ready to start school when classes resumed at the beginning of August, Souza said.
Tutor Rachel Sarasohn was one of those workers. She finally returned to the classroom on Thursday, she said. Her employment was delayed, but tutors got little information about the reasons for the delay, she told West Hawaii Today.
The DOE employs about 40,000 casual employees, all of whom require updated background checks annually, Acting Personnel Management Branch Director Kerry Tom said Tuesday. His department lost staff and resources, which prompted them to pass along some of the background check work to the schools, he said.
“Our goal is really to clear it out by the end of the month,” Tom said of the backlog.
Souza was more optimistic. He said he was hoping to see all employees back at work by the end of this week. The state did, at Big Island officials’ request, provide more help with the background checks, which can take anywhere from one or two days to several weeks to complete.
Souza said he believed the situation hit Hawaii Island harder than other islands because of the number of schools and number of employees here.
Tom said every district around the state has had similar problems.
“It’s probably not a unique situation,” he said. “We understand their frustration.”
His department has about 20 people who conduct the background checks.
“We’re trying to protect our kids,” he said. “Unfortunately it can take a little time.”
