NJ Delays Background Checks For School Boards

New Jersey's acting education commissioner is giving school board members more time to get fingerprinted as part of a new background check requirement.

The move comes in response to a clunky process of getting board members to comply with a new law that required them to undergo background checks by the end of 2011.

On Thursday, the Education Department told 183 board members in districts across the state that they had to step down for failing to submit the checks in time.

Friday, Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf said he would give members until Jan. 27 to complete the process. Those who don't get the checks by then will be removed from school boards, he said.

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