Dear Staff,
The safety and well-being of our students and school communities are our highest priority. Baltimore City Public Schools (“City Schools”) has policies and procedures to comply with Maryland law and support student safety, including a long-standing requirement that every employee completes a fingerprint-based background check before employment. Employees must also self-report arrests under Board Policy GBN and the Employee Handbook.
As part of our continued commitment to student safety and compliance, City Schools is taking an additional step to ensure eligible employees are enrolled in the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) RAP Back program. RAP Back (Record of Arrest and Prosecution Back) is a continuous criminal record monitoring service managed by the FBI and state law enforcement that provides real-time alerts when an enrolled individual has new criminal activity.
Employees hired since September 2017 were automatically enrolled in RAP Back as part of the hiring process. Employees hired before September 2017 must be re-fingerprinted before they can participate in the program. City Schools will begin this process later this week.
We recognize that, given recent events, employees may have questions about this initiative and its timing. It is important to note that the RAP Back re-fingerprinting initiative is a separate, systemwide compliance effort intended to strengthen existing safety measures and ensure eligible employees are enrolled in continuous criminal history monitoring.
Please note:
This is a systemwide compliance and student-safety measure.
This initiative applies only to employees hired before September 2017 who are not already enrolled in RAP Back.
Employees fingerprinted after September 2017 are already enrolled.
If you are required to participate in the re-fingerprinting process, you will receive additional scheduling information later this week.
This initiative adds another layer of protection and supports City Schools’ commitment to student safety and compliance by ensuring eligible employees are enrolled in RAP Back’s continuous criminal history monitoring program across law enforcement jurisdictions nationwide.
If you do not need to be re-fingerprinted, you do not need to take any action, and this will be the last notification you receive about this initiative. If you are required to be re-fingerprinted, you will receive a separate notification later this week with additional information about the process.
Thank you for your partnership and continued commitment to creating safe, supportive school communities for our students and one another.
Sincerely,
Office of Human Capital
For additional support, please review the Frequently Asked Questions.