Montgomery – The State Board of Education will implement a policy that requires criminal background checks on existing employees and job applicants to the two-year college system.
The policy is effective immediately and could cause some current employees to lose their jobs.
It generally prohibits the hiring of those convicted of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude.
Chancellor Bradley Byrne said the Department of Postsecondary Education will begin searching for a company to perform the checks.
The nine-member board's vote for the policy came after they hired two new college presidents at Shelton State and Trenholm State colleges.
Mark Heinrich will head the Shelton campus in Tuscaloosa, and Samuel Munnerlyn will run Trenholm in Montgomery.
Byrne said he will consider keeping convicted felons on the system's payroll depending on the offense, the person's job performance, and how much time has passed since their conviction.
The policy is similar to one the Legislature passed for K-12 in 2002, but it doesn't have the same confidentiality restrictions.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)