Check Finds 26 More School Workers With Criminal Records

Another round of fingerprint checks found 26 more Los Angeles Unified School District employees with criminal records, bringing the total to 76, school officials said Thursday.

The district began hiring people without checking their backgrounds in mid-April, after the state attorney general ruled that a faster computerized check violated state law. However, after a school custodian with a felony record was arrested for the murder of a Rio Linda high school student last month, district Supt. Sid Thompson halted that practice.

Eight of the latest round of district employees with records were working in classrooms, either as substitute teachers or teachers aides. Half were dismissed immediately and their crimes included prostitution, drug sales and assault with a deadly weapon. Four substitute teachers were kept despite their records, because they told the truth on their job applications and their crimes were minor: theft, forgery and reckless driving.

Of the non-classroom employees, four of 18 were let go and two more applicants with records were removed from the hiring list. The range of those fired included a cafeteria worker convicted for grand theft and a library aide with a drug sales record. Among those kept was a truck driver convicted of child abuse and an instructional aide convicted of prostitution in 1989.