Nearly a year after Governor Patrick signed “An Act Relative to Background Checks,” the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) is nearly ready to begin the implementation of background checks required by that legislation.
A Massachusetts vendor, MorphoTrust, has been selected to perform the fingerprinting and is currently in the process of testing the website and setting up test locations around the state. They hope to have approximately 30 locations set up by March. In the future, mobile sites will be available to travel to sites with large numbers of individuals to be tested. Volunteer districts are expected to begin testing the system this month. After a soft launch, background checks are expected to rollout alphabetically.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has also been busy preparing for the upcoming national background checks. At its December 16, 2013 special meeting, the Board voted to adopt final regulations related to the new law. In addition, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is in the process of updating its CORI Advisory and has said that it will continue to update its FAQ page as new information becomes available.
With the implementation of national background checks, school districts will need to take steps to update their own CORI policies and implement a Statewide Application Fingerprint Investigation System (SAFIS) Policy to comply with FBI requirements.
A summary of the law is available on our website. NMP is available to provide policy review and counsel on the new law.
