The International Schools Review Forum

Seriously, this raises questions about background checks in the International teaching scene.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... confession

Yep.. makes me wonder , if he was teaching in the UK- how did he get through a CRB ( Now DBS) check???

From what I understand, CRB and the likes (at least here in Europe) are only able to check your background within their own country. What you've been up to elsewhere is inaccessible to them. So with teachers moving around the world, all they have access to is the last country where they've lived.

Not sure if it's true, but this is what someone the educational business (not schools) told me once.

Yes, CRB/DBS check applies only to the UK (and maybe some overseas UK territories but I don't know). Schools can ask, or insist, on police clearance from every country a potential employee has worked in but the reality is that it's not always that easy to get and when it is easy to get a clear certificate it can often be paid for. It's not that long ago that when UK teachers went abroad and were asked for clearance that the only thing they could get from UK police was a statement that the UK police don't issue clearance certificates - in other words, "it's none of your business you foreign countries". At the end of the day though, if Vahey had a clear record (aside from the 1969 conviction in California in days when records where written down on bits of paper and then shoved in a drawer or a filing cabinet) then he had a clear record and no amount of police checks would have found anything.

His most recent school claims that they ran a criminal check, and it came back clean. Unfortunately, this sounds pretty plausible to me. There have been many reports over the years about the holes in the US reporting systems. His jail time was what, 40 years ago? Before computerization, before proper state-to-state sharing of information. I'm not surprised it got lost. Disappointed, of course, but not surprised.
I really hope that a more recent jail sentence would be picked up.

Another real possibility to this might have been fraudulent documents. I personally met and saw documents of background checks and all kinds of diplomas that were being churned out in an Asian country where I worked. This was all done by a Brit living there for a fee of course. You only needed a copy or photo of what a real one looked like. I imagine this is a lot more common in SE Asia where there are all kinds of not so reputable English teachers floating around rather than at legitimate International schools, but still a real possibility.

What's scary, Micky, is that it looks like he was at many reputable 'Tier 1' schools...not fly-by-night language schools. And his wife...geesh...frightening...

I find it astounding that he was able to get jobs in some of his postings. I know for a fact that Aramco, for example, does a very thorough background check. And what about his teaching qualification?! It looks like it was issued 42 years ago! I am sure he was not up-to date in that department.

Anyone on here ever work with this scumbag? May he rot in hell...

I suspect a lot of members have worked or met Bill over the years. He was at some great schools and his wife, Jean, was a respected and popular school director. I can't speak for everyone, but I would never have suspected that Bill was capable of this.

Out of curiosity I just checked to see if she had any reviews on the paid side. She had two very good reviews. Can't believe she didn't know what was going on with her husband...unbelievable.

Jean was head of ECIS. I didn't put two and two together until a colleague pointed this out.

Besides that - I've learned that, even in the States, people can slip through the cracks with background checks. If people aren't filing police reports then chances are it is not going to show up on your record. Moreover, many countries still handle police clearance letters by hand and not on a computerized system in addition to the red tape people have to jump through just to make a request. It took me two months to get a piece of paper from my current country stating that I haven't done anything against the law.

The timeline:

http://news.yahoo.com/glance-pedophile- ... 02359.html