Background checks need a wider scope

With the eighth victim of a school molestation case being offered a settlement this week, many Beaufort County residents are wondering when the turbulent wake left by former Coosa Elementary School teacher Philip Underwood-Sheppard will begin to subside.

Underwood-Sheppard in 2003 pleaded guilty to nine counts of molestation charges of children aged 6 to 13 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Beaufort County School District, its insurers and the Boys & Girls Club of the Lowcountry, which provided the after-school forum where some of the students were violated, have paid out more than $7 million to the victims and their families. On Tuesday, the school board voted to offer $300,000 to an eight victim — five years after Underwood-Sheppard’s guilty plea. The children were violated from 1999 to 2002.

But the question is not asked because of the millions of dollars spent to settle the cases, and not solely because of the pain inflicted on these children and the scars that they and there loved ones must wear; it's for the school district to finally take every precaution to protect our little ones. That is something that still can be done better.

And it's one of the reasons why the school district hired a consultant to create stronger security and safety policies. Atop the list: nationwide background checks.

The school district is quick to point out that for years it has been checking the criminal backgrounds of its applicants; however, those background checks were limited to crimes that occurred in South Carolina — not the 49 other states in this nation from which many staff are hired.

Next year, the district will begin conducting online multi-state background checks. One glitch, though: It can only check sex-offender registries in 39 states. Also, Jackie Rosswurm, the school district's human resource officer, said Tuesday that at the minimum, periodic SLED background checks will be conducted on employees next year.

We must do better than that. There are more than 2,400 employees in the school district. Our guess is that a good number of them are from out of state. National background checks must be done on these people, too.

Background checks for all employees aren't too extreme, and their costs are not prohibitive: $21,000 a year for the online check program, an initial cost of $40,000 for another and $11,000 a year. In a district that's asking taxpayers for $162 million for new schools and improvements, it’s a drop in the bucket, and we certainly can afford more to protect our children.

Anyone who believes that sexual molestation in our schools, churches, daycare centers and after-school programs isn’t an epidemic is grossly out of touch. By not spending the time and money and making every effort to ensure our children's well-being means we have done nothing but sit back and let these heinous crimes happen.

Some school board members Tuesday were quick to note that their hands were free of any blood: "It wasn't a decision that the board made or a decision that was brought to the board," said Laura Bush. "In my opinion, the last three superintendents were not very good managers," said Joan Deery.

We can point our fingers all we want, but at the end of the day, we haven't done enough to protect our children. Today we have an opportunity to do just that.

Maybe then we can begin to answer the question, "The wake has subsided."