AMHERST — An unspecified number of employees in the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional schools may have been working directly with students for the past two school years without appropriate background checks in violation of state law, according to a press release issued by the school district Wednesday.
“As leaders, we understand and appreciate that members of the community are calling for an increase in transparency from our school districts,” reads the email sent by the central office. “In an effort to show our commitment to meeting the community’s expectations, we are writing to disclose that the districts’ employment records do not consistently reflect whether the districts have conducted certain background checks of their employees.”
The email is signed by interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter, Human Resources Administrator Kathryn Mazur and those who chair the various school committees, including Sarahbess Kenney for the region, Margaret Stancer for Pelham and Irv Rhodes for Union 26.
“We want to emphasize that we have no reason to believe that any individual employed by the districts presents any risk to children or staff,” the statement reads.
The…
