For Pennsylvania schools, hiring season for the fall is well
underway. As school administrators evaluate candidates, it is
worthwhile to consider what they must, should and should not do
related to the criminal background checks mandated by 24 P.S.
§1 111.
Under that law, schools are not permitted to employ individuals,
either directly or through contractors, if the person is ineligible
because of the applicant's criminal history conviction record.
An applicant is either ineligible for life – using a specific
list of criminal offenses – or, where the offense fits into
particular grading categories, for defined periods after the
sentence ends. Further, the defined periods are different depending
on how the offense was graded.
