Room for Flexibility in Law

After Alex Del Thomas, a school janitor with a felony record, was charged with committing a campus murder, California required that fingerprints be submitted with applications for teaching credentials. Schools need to be careful about the men and women who teach children.

Now in Orange County, a vocational education teacher named Natividad Alvarado Jr. has been knocked out of his job with the regional occupational program in San Juan Capistrano because of the fingerprint law. Alvarado is hoping the interruption is only temporary. He has impressive character references.

Alvarado, 36, has numerous convictions for using drugs, but they date back to his youth. This illustrates how mistakes can plague people in later years. Supporters argue that he shows how people can turn their lives around.

That message would appear well suited for Los Pinos Conservation Camp, where Alvarado taught carpentry for six months. The camp is operated by the Orange County Probation Department. Teenagers spend three months to a year there in minimum-security confinement, studying academic subjects and doing chores.

Alvarado disclosed his convictions when he applied for a teaching credential. All were misdemeanors, for drug use, burglary and theft. He was temporarily cleared to teach, until the fingerprints showed what he had already disclosed--his criminal record.

He and his wife have ministered to youth at a Santa Ana church they founded, and he is on Santa Ana’s Human Relations Commission. Close scrutiny of applicants with records is warranted, but the state also should give due consideration to whether Alvarado has paid his debt.