SOMS TEACHER HIRE COMPLAINT SPARKS BACKGROUND CHECK POLICY REVIEW

School district officials plan to review the procedures for background checks on potential new teachers after some South Orange Middle School parents opposed a new teacher who had been fired from a previous job for poor performance and ineffectiveness.

Some said a simple Google search would have turned up the background of Lawrence Henchey, who was set to begin last Monday as a replacement for English Language Arts teacher Megan Alloway, who is taking a personal leave.

In a letter to parents this week, the district said it would review its procedures, stating, in part:  

Our protocol is to check references, fingerprinting, and current teaching license status for finalists. We are currently reviewing our hiring process to determine what additional levels of background checks we may want to incorporate for the future.

See the entire letter below.

Parents discovered Henchey had lost a previous job in 2015 in the New Milford School District for poor performance. That sparked some parents to post an online petition opposing his hiring. The outcry led SOMS to reverse its decision and seek other candidates.

When Maplewoodian.com reached out seeking more details on how the search was conducted and the procedures for reviewing potential teachers' backgrounds, District Spokesperson Suzanne Turner released a copy of  the letter that was sent to SOMS parents this past week.

See it below:

Dear SOMS Community,

We wanted to clarify the hiring process.

When a teacher is going to be out for a long enough period to necessitate a leave replacement teacher, we look for a certified teacher with expertise in that specific content area and/or grade. We interview candidates, and then ask leading candidates to conduct a demonstration lesson so that we can see their teaching style in action.

Our protocol is to check references, fingerprinting, and current teaching license status for finalists. We are currently reviewing our hiring process to determine what additional levels of background checks we may want to incorporate for the future.

Questions arose when SOMS announced to families last Friday that a leave replacement teacher had been identified for the 8th grade English Language Arts class. This recommendation was made after interviewing five candidates for the position, observing demonstration lessons for three of those five interviewed, and checking references and teaching license status for the finalist.

Upon further consideration, we decided to keep searching to identify a teacher who will better meet the needs of our students.

We know that the quality of a teacher can have a tremendous impact on each student, and are committed to finding the best possible candidates. We look forward to introducing you to our new SOMS teachers, once we have identified candidates who have the qualifications necessary to inspire and support the continual learning and growth of our students.

South Orange Maplewood School District