State education officials had hoped to have a new online certification database up and running in July.
Department spokeswoman Rachel Paling says, due to what she calls inevitable roadblocks in getting the new system up and running, it won’t be available to the public until mid-October. She says it’s operating internally right now.
All public school employees must have proper credentials for their job, including passing a criminal background check. Paling says the public will be able to go into the system and type in the name of their son or daughter’s teacher.
“They’ll be able to see whether or not they’re certified and then they’ll be able to see what they’re certified in,” she says. “The background check is just one piece of getting certified. It’s actually done through a separate company who has a contract with the FBI. So it’s not done within the system, it’s reported into the system.”
Paling says for personnel such as bus drivers that don’t need teacher certification, the public will be able to see whether or not they’ve had a criminal background check.
