The Plain Dealer

Monday, March 10, 2008

No doubt, the big increase in license renewal fees is an ex pensive inconvenience for Ohio’s public and private schoolteachers.

But the expanded background checks are for a good cause: the protection of children. Classroom predators do exist, as several Ohio newspaper series have made perfectly clear.

Of course, most teachers and coaches would never, ever physically or sexually abuse a child. And yet, year in and year out, some do. And Ohio needs to do a better job of catching them sooner. It has been too easy for offenders to get licensed, stay licensed and roam from school to school, almost always a step ahead of their tainted backgrounds.

Now employees will have to renew their license every five years and undergo a probe by the state and the FBI, making it easier for school districts to catch those who try to slither under the radar.

The price of these safeguards (up to $200) will be costly, especially on a teacher’s salary, and the fingerprinting and paperwork are a bother, but the payoff will be a safer school experience.

© 2008 The Plain Dealer

© 2008 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.