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	No Criminal Check on Minneapolis Choir Director Accused of Sexual Assault By Patrice Relerford Star Tribune February 25, 2009 http://www.startribune.com/local/40327012.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr Minneapolis public schools confirmed that Gregory B. Washington, who has a past conviction for sexual assault, taught music in three district schools. He's currently facing charges in a similar incident. A local gospel singer and choir director who has been charged with sexually assaulting an underage Brooklyn Park girl was a contract music teacher in three schools on Minneapolis' North Side, though he was on probation in connection with an earlier sexual assault. Nobody with the district ran a criminal check on Gregory B. Washington before he was hired. District policy requires contractors to complete background checks on their employees and the district reserves the right to review individual employees records. But in this case, Washington owns Miraculous Music, a music production and education group that contracted to teach at the Jenny Lind Elementary/Olson Middle upper campus and Cityview Elementary School in September. "I would have to be honest and say our implementation of [the background check policy] hasn't been perfect," said Margaret Westin, Minneapolis schools' general counsel. "We know this is something we need to work on." And Washington's company was never asked to run a criminal check on its employees. Instead, the business mistakenly went through a vetting process for groups that don't have direct contact with students. It requires proof of insurance and other documentation but doesn't always include criminal checks. This isn't the first recent case of an instructor being accused of sexually assaulting a student in a metro school. Last school year, a hockey coach in the Robbinsdale district and a self-defense instructor in Forest Lake schools were charged with criminal sexual conduct, accused of having sex with underage girls. Those cases and discrepancies around criminal background check policies from school to school led Education Minnesota, the state's teacher's union, and legislators to call for tougher state screening rules for adults who have contact with students.
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