STOCKTON-

A report by the San Joaquin County Grand Jury says community groups that partner with the city school district to put on after school programs aren’t screening instructional aides closely enough.

As a result, some aren’t getting fingerprint checks with the Department of Justice and others are academically unqualified to interact with children.

The report makes several recommendations including audits of the five community groups that run the programs.  A district spokesperson said the district says the findings in the report are appropriate and that the district has already begun revamping procedures to ensure rules are being followed.

The issue came to a head late last year when the district discovered that the Stockton Boys and Girls Club, which was contracted to run after school programs at 14 schools, hired unqualified aides that didn’t have the training required to qualify for the district’s federal grants.  The organization has lost its national charter and it’s contract with the district was canceled.

The district has expanded the YMCA’s involvement in the after school programs and it says that organization has worked with the district to comply hiring rules when it was tasked with taking over the programs run by the Boys and Girls Club.

Grand Jury Foreperson Denise Matthews says there was the potential of someone working with kids who may have ha a criminal record without anyone’s knowledge because Department of Justice fingerprinting checks were not made correctly.  According to the Grand Jury report, several contracted community groups used third parties to do the criminal checks and that they weren’t adequate.

Matthews says the district must respond to the findings and recommendations in the report to a judge within 90 days.  She also says she hopes corrections can be made because the after school programs which provide tutoring and other educational activities is a valuable tool for the district.