Lead Background Check Specialist (External)

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600 schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of Safety and Security serves as the critical department to partner with school principals and other CPS staff members to ensure that all schools strive towards the goal of establishing a safe environment for our students. The Background Check Team manages the background check process for the entire district (six workstreams): employee, vendor, volunteer, charter, LSC and pipeline programs.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Director of Safety Services, the Lead Background Check Specialist, External will support the Director to ensure that the background check process for external work streams is timely. This role will also ensure that appropriate communications are shared with all parties while maintaining Criminal Justice Information Services ( CJIS) policies around criminal history.

The Lead Background Check Specialist, External will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Lead escalations and other tasks for external groups and various external partners

• Serve as the primary contact for charter networks and vendor HR contacts, CPS Procurement, Illinois State Police (ISP), and Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)

• Track DCFS status updates for candidates and request additional DCFS information as required.

• Track and update all files shared with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH)

• Monitor Tier I and Tier II queues and support as necessary

• Lead enhancements, coding, and integration changes with Managed Services System (MSS)

• Special projects as assigned/identified by leadership around critical candidates, i.e bus drivers, etc. in our external workstreams

• Create daily and weekly Background Check team metrics reports; Use data to assist the department with the optimization of processes and performance.

• Monitor incoming records by workstream and assess closure and completion rates.

• Monitor and track tasks of Tier I and Tier II Background Check Specialists; Identify trends and potential issues.

• Remain abreast of updates to ISP and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) rules and regulations.

• Other duties as assigned.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Lead Background Check Specialist, External must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• High school diploma or GED equivalent required

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university preferred

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years of professional work experience using confidential information including:

• Minimum of three (3) years working with employee records and databases

• Minimum of two (2) years of interpreting legal documents

• Customer service or call center experience preferred

• Supervisory experience preferred

• Bilingual Spanish/English preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Proficiency with MS Office, Blackboard, Google Suite and Google drive; Proficiency with using spreadsheets, including Excel spreadsheet functions such as V-Lookup and pivot tables

• Strong communication skills (speaking, listening and writing)

• Ability to compile data into reports

• Ability to quickly learn new applications and systems

• Strong customer service skills

• Demonstrate a high level of support, ethical behavior, integrity and professionalism

• Ability to conduct work and make work decisions with objectivity; Ability to maintain confidentiality with sensitive information and documentation

• Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps

• Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the background check process operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools and principals

• Knowledge of CJIS policies

• Strategic thinker

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.

• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. "Up-to-date" on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.

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