Federal Criminal History Record Information (CHRI)
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
has changed to a new electronic fingerprinting vendor, IDEMIA, for
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal history background
checks. IDEMIA, began processing FBI criminal history checks on November 28, 2017.
Federal
Criminal History Background Checks are required by Act 114 of 2006, 24 PS 1-111 as
amended (Act 61 of 2008)
Background
As of April 1, 2007,
Act 114 of 2006 has required that ALL prospective employees of public and
private schools, including their independent contractors and their employees,
but excluding employees who do not have direct contact with students, undergo
background checks. Applicants are required to submit their background check
reports to their prospective public and private school employers. The law also
requires student teachers to undergo background checks and present their
reports to their higher education institution prior to field experience. There
are three required background checks for ALL applicants:
ALL public and private schools are required to review the background
check reports, including the federal criminal history record information
(CHRI) reports of all prospective employees and independent contractors
who will have contact with children.
The higher education institution administrator is responsible for
reviewing the reports of prospective student teachers. The
school/higher education administrator must make a determination
regarding the fitness of the
individual to work in a position where he or she will have contact
with
children. The review and fitness determination is required PRIOR to
the
applicant working in a school.
*The PA State Police report has been required for applicants for school employment since 1986.
**Prior to April 1, 2007, the Federal Criminal History Report was
only required in PA schools for out-of-state applicants. The CHRI is the
result of an FBI fingerprint-based background check. Act 114 requires
the report to be reviewed in a manner prescribed by PDE.