Concern over Hiring Process at King Philip

The King Philip School Committee talked about examining the district's hiring policy after a coaching job offer was made to an accused felon.

The Sun Chronicle reported recently that the district offered a job to a Rhode Island man accused of grand theft auto in Florida.

Superintendent Elizabeth Zielinski said the district was examining the way it conducted hiring.

"In this situation, policy was followed, but that doesn't mean it can be expanded," she said. "We have Massachusetts CORI [Criminal Offender Record Information] checks, but we need to look at CORI for other states."

She said, though, that the district would not have been able to find out about the charges earlier, as a job offer has to be made before such a check can be made.

Parents asked about the process for checking references, and the number of references needed to be hired.

"The school committee has a policy to make sure a sufficient background check is done to protect students," Board Chairman Patrick Francomano said. "The administrative team has put in a protocol to satisfy that — it may be one [reference] in some instances, or it may be two."

Parents said they were concerned about the situation.

"I think this was a failure on two different levels," a parent said. "First, the Corey system is really not protecting us. I think it was also a failure of the people in place hiring these individuals."

Francomano said discussion about the specific situation would be better done with the school principal or district superintendent.

"This is going to be on the agenda again," he said. "We'll find out what changes will be made."