College of Charleston Employee Background Checks

Two College of Charleston employees have been arrested in the past two months and the college is putting new measures in place to screen employees.

The College employs about 1,800 people in the Lowcountry. Before now, background checks have not been required for all its workers.

The recent arrest of two of its workers is prompting the college to change the way it screens potential employees.

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Schiff: Make Background Checks Reliable and Accessible

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced legislation to create a nationally-accessible background check system for youth-serving organizations. The Child Protection Improvements Act of 2009, builds on a highly successful pilot program to ensure that youth serving groups such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Boys and Girls Clubs can perform quick, accurate, and affordable background checks on prospective volunteers or employees. The bill is being introduced with Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Mike Rogers (R-MI) as original cosponsors.

"We are fortunate to live in a country where millions of volunteers generously make time to participate in community service," said Schiff, a former national Board Member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. "But with so many volunteers working with children we need to ensure that child predators are not preying on innocent children through the guise of volunteerism. Children´s safety is paramount, and we need to make certain that those working with our youth have been thoroughly and properly screened."

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