teach1st
08-20-2005, 06:58 AM
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050820/LOCAL/208200316/1078/news
The place where an unintended consequence of a new law may be most apparent could be on high school football fields in two weeks.
The Jessica Lunsford Act will become law Sept. 1 and the next day - a Friday - there may not be enough referees and field officials legally around the state to work the games.
The law was passed by the 2005 Legislature following the assault and murder of Jessica Lunsford in Homosassa Springs. The man charged with committing the crimes against her had worked as a mason under a subcontract at her school.
The law was intended to keep closer track of sexual predators and offenders and keep them off school campuses.
It requires a level 2 screening for "non-instructional school district employees or contractual personnel" on school grounds.
The screening involves submitting fingerprints to be checked out against the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal databases.
While everyone contacted by The Sun about the new law agreed with its intent - safeguarding children - local districts said many sports officials and people who deliver products to schools are reluctant to pay for repeated screenings.
The law requires sports officials and delivery people to be screened in each county where they work. School districts waiting for the state to give them some advice on how to follow the new law were disappointed this week.
The Florida Department of Education issued a 10-page technical paper late Monday afternoon that area districts said provided far less leadership than they were expecting. School officials said they were also disappointed that the department waited to issue its advice until school had started in almost every district and there were less than two weeks before the new law takes effect.
The cost of a level 2 screening is at least $61 per person in area districts. The highest fee so far has been in Alachua County, where the School Board voted Tuesday night to charge $100 for a screening.
In all 67 counties, the FBI gets $24 and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement gets $23. Most districts are paying their fingerprint technology vendor $9 for each set of paperless fingerprints taken by the district on equipment provided by the vendor. Many districts are also collecting a $5 administrative fee and some districts are tacking on another $24 that is sent to the FDLE to maintain a set of prints in the FDLE's database for four years until the process must be repeated.
Read more (http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050820/LOCAL/208200316/1078/news)
The place where an unintended consequence of a new law may be most apparent could be on high school football fields in two weeks.
The Jessica Lunsford Act will become law Sept. 1 and the next day - a Friday - there may not be enough referees and field officials legally around the state to work the games.
The law was passed by the 2005 Legislature following the assault and murder of Jessica Lunsford in Homosassa Springs. The man charged with committing the crimes against her had worked as a mason under a subcontract at her school.
The law was intended to keep closer track of sexual predators and offenders and keep them off school campuses.
It requires a level 2 screening for "non-instructional school district employees or contractual personnel" on school grounds.
The screening involves submitting fingerprints to be checked out against the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal databases.
While everyone contacted by The Sun about the new law agreed with its intent - safeguarding children - local districts said many sports officials and people who deliver products to schools are reluctant to pay for repeated screenings.
The law requires sports officials and delivery people to be screened in each county where they work. School districts waiting for the state to give them some advice on how to follow the new law were disappointed this week.
The Florida Department of Education issued a 10-page technical paper late Monday afternoon that area districts said provided far less leadership than they were expecting. School officials said they were also disappointed that the department waited to issue its advice until school had started in almost every district and there were less than two weeks before the new law takes effect.
The cost of a level 2 screening is at least $61 per person in area districts. The highest fee so far has been in Alachua County, where the School Board voted Tuesday night to charge $100 for a screening.
In all 67 counties, the FBI gets $24 and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement gets $23. Most districts are paying their fingerprint technology vendor $9 for each set of paperless fingerprints taken by the district on equipment provided by the vendor. Many districts are also collecting a $5 administrative fee and some districts are tacking on another $24 that is sent to the FDLE to maintain a set of prints in the FDLE's database for four years until the process must be repeated.
Read more (http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050820/LOCAL/208200316/1078/news)