Liability Insurance for Fieldwork and Student Teaching

The Department of Education requires all students to have current professional liability insurance during each of their early fieldwork and student teaching experiences. Students must provide verification of insurance to the Administrative Coordinator each academic year that they are enrolled in fieldwork or student teaching. 

Students may choose to become a student member of the following educational organizations, which provides this insurance, or they can purchase coverage through an insurance agent. 

  • Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) – Free student membership. Memberships run from July 1 through June 30. Insurance is obtained by joining or renewing your membership at www.msta.org/join/. Select the STUDENT MSTA option. If you need assistance or have questions, contact Member Care Center (800-392-0532 or membercare@msta.org). When the transaction is complete, you will receive a “Do Not Reply” email containing an “Order Summary”. Please forward this confirmation email receipt to education@william.jewell.edu. This will serve as verification for your file. 
  • Missouri National Education Association (MNEA) – Free student membership. Memberships run from September 1 thru August 31. Insurance is obtained by joining or renewing your MNEA membership at www.mnea.org/Missouri/Join-Online.aspx. Select the STUDENT MEMBERSHIP option. If you need assistance or have questions, contact 800-392-0236 and ask for Membership. When the transaction is complete, you will receive a “verification/welcome letter” email. Please forward this welcome letter email to education@william.jewell.edu. This will serve as verification for your file. 
  • Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society (KDP) – Free student membership with insurance Opt-In effective the date of your membership. You can see more information on your membership site. Must be invited to join KDP at William Jewell College. 
  • Association of American Educators (AAE) – $25 student membership. Insurance is obtained by joining or renewing your membership at www.aaeteachers.org/index.php/join-renew. Select the STUDENT MEMBERSHIP option. When the transaction is complete, please forward the welcome letter email to education@william.jewell.edu. This will serve as verification for your file. 
  • Private Insurance: Students may choose to purchase coverage through a private insurance agent. The policy must state that it includes professional liability insurance for educators. The policy must include your name, the company’s name, and the expiration of coverage. Please scan and email to education@william.jewell.edu. This will serve at verification for your file. 

Background Check Requirements and Procedures 

School districts in our area require all teacher education students observing or teaching in their schools complete some level of clearance before they’re allowed to enter their buildings. We have two different clearances that we require of our students – (1)The Family Care Safety Registry and (2) the FBI Background check. 

1. WHAT IS THE FAMILY CARE SAFETY REGISTRY? 

Missouri's Family Care Safety Registry (FCSR) was established by law to promote family and community safety. The registry helps to protect children, seniors, and the disabled by providing access to background information. Background information consists of Missouri data only and is accessed through the following state agencies: 

  • State criminal background records maintained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol 
  • Sex Offender Registry information maintained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol 
  • Child abuse/neglect records maintained by the Missouri Department of Social Services 
  • The Employee Disqualification List maintained by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services 
  • The Employee Disqualification Registry maintained by the Missouri Department of Mental Health 
  • Child-care facility licensing records maintained by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services 
  • Foster parent licensing records maintained by the Missouri Department of Social Services 

What does "registered" mean?
If an individual is "registered," their name is listed in a database of caregivers, and employers may request their background screening results. Those wishing to hire a caregiver may contact the FCSR to obtain background screening information about registered individuals. 

If the screen says your social security number was found in the database, then you’re registered. If it states that your social security number was not found in the database, then you need to select the continue button and proceed with registration. 

  • Skip the employer name and choose student from “Select if no Employer” dropdown box. 
  • Choose Voluntary for the registration type. 
  • Enter your last name and first name; be sure to enter any other names you have used (maiden, nickname, previous married name, etc.) 
  • Enter your date of birth and gender. 
  • Enter your mailing address including the zip, city, state and county. Enter your phone number and an e-mail address. 
  • Confirm the information you entered. 
  • Read and agree to the registration agreement. When registering online, payment is made by credit card. 
  • You will be charged a nonrefundable $14 registration fee and an additional $1.25 processing fee. 

Registrants will receive their background clearance letters in the mail within 7 to 10 business days. Registrants must notify the Department of Education secretary of their clearance before reporting to their fieldwork assignment. Students are not allowed to begin fieldwork until they are registered in the FCSR database. 

Already registered with FCSR?
Once a person is registered, they are permanently in the FCSR system. Each semester, the Jewell Department of Education will request updated reports for each of the students enrolled in a fieldwork experience. Students will be notified in writing each time we request information about them from the registry. The notification will contain our name and address and the background information released. Disclosure of background information on a person registered in the FCSR is limited. The registry will disclose whether the person’s name is in any of the background checks and, if so, which one. Specific information will only be disclosed by the registry upon receipt of a written request from our department. 

Once the Jewell Department of Education receives the updated reports, we will notify the fieldwork schools that you have cleared this background check and save the report to your student file on Etrieve. 

What courses do I need a FCSR for?
All fieldwork courses. 

2. WHAT IS THE FBI BACKGROUND CHECK?

An FBI Identification Record—often referred to as a criminal history record or a “rap sheet”—is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service. The process of responding to an Identification Record request is generally known as a criminal background check. 

If the fingerprints are related to an arrest, the Identification Record includes name of the agency that submitted the fingerprints to the FBI, the date of the arrest, the arrest charge, and the disposition of the arrest, if known to the FBI. All arrest data included in an Identification Record is obtained from fingerprint submissions, disposition reports, and other information submitted by agencies having criminal justice responsibilities. 

Local school districts require fieldwork students participating in the fieldwork experience and student teachers to complete a FBI fingerprint background check prior to beginning their fieldwork/student teaching experience. Background check results must be valid during the entire experience. A current FBI background check completed through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is also required for your Initial Professional Certificate (IPC). Since the background check is only good for one year this means you must plan on two FBI background checks during your teacher education program and one for certification at conclusion of the program. 

How do I complete a FBI background check?
Students must complete and sign the MoVECHS Waiver Agreement and Statement form and the Noncriminal Justice Applicant’s Privacy Rights and bring them to the Department of Education. Signed copies of both of these forms must be on-file in the Department of Education to be compliant with the state of Missouri. The MoVECHS Waiver Agreement and Statement form gives William Jewell the authorization to receive the student’s criminal history. Without this form, students have not given permission for Jewell’s Department of Education to receive criminal history. The Noncriminal Justice Applicant’s Privacy Rights states the results of a criminal history record check will be used only for authorized purposes and will not be retained or disseminated. To do so would be in violation of federal statute, regulation or executive order, or rule, procedure or standard established by the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council (Missouri Revised Statues 43.532.1 and 576.050). The offense of misuse of official information is a class A misdemeanor and will also result in termination of employment. Both forms can be found at the end of this policy manual.

IDEMIA captures our students’ fingerprints electronically and submits them to the Missouri State Highway patrol. All applicants needing to be fingerprinted with IDEMIA must first register with the Missouri Criminal History Site (MACHS) Fingerprint portal at www.machs.mo.gov. Those without access to the internet may contact them directly at 1-877-862-2425 to have a Fingerprint Services Representative conduct their registration. 

  1. Click on the icon to register with the MACHS Fingerprint Portal. 
  2. Click the icon to register with MACHS. 
  3. At the top of the registration page you should enter William Jewell’s unique registration number: 5509. You will be prompted for this number and will not be able to schedule an appointment without it. Once you enter this number, MACHS will automatically populate your agency data thus ensuring that the background check is returned to the correct location. 
  4. Clicking “enter” will automatically return a message displaying the name and identifying information of the agency for which you are registering. 
  5. Once you have verified your agency information you may begin entering your personal demographic data into the spaces provided. When you are finished click “register”. 
  6. At the top of the verification page an 8 digit Transaction Control Number (TCN). This number will be used to track your fingerprints through the background check process. Write down this number. 
  7. Once you have verified that the information is correct, click “complete registration”. 
  8. Read the Noncriminal Justice Applicant’s Privacy Rights and click “complete registration”. 
  9. You will then be prompted to confirm the person being fingerprinted. If the information is correct, select “correct”; if the information is incorrect, select “incorrect”. 
  10. Select “register for digital fingerprinting services”. 
  11. Choose to find a fingerprint location near me. 
  12. The registration portion is now complete. Print or save the page for your records. Take the following with you to your fingerprint location: 
    • Payment of $40.50. IDEMIA accepts check, money order or credit cards. 
    • A valid photo ID 
    • A copy of the registration confirmation either printed or saved to your mobile device. 
  13. Enter your postal code to find the fingerprint locations closest to you. 
  14. Select the location to see the address and location hours. Selecting the location will take you to Google maps. 
  15. Once registered you will receive an email confirmation to schedule your appointment. 
  16. Select “click here to schedule your appointment”. 
  17. Enter your date of birth, then select “next”. 
  18. Enter a postal code to find a location near you and select from the list to schedule an appointment. 
  19. Choose a date and time for your appointment or choose “walk in” then “submit”. Note: Scheduled appointments take priority over walk-ins. Appointments are highly recommended due to the possible wait times associated with walk-in processing. 
  20. Print your “service summary” for your records. Appear at the fingerprint location you chose at your designated time. 
  21. William Jewell will receive your fingerprint results within 48 hours and will notify you via your William Jewell email once we receive them. 

Students are not allowed to begin fieldwork until they have completed and met the clearance requirements. You will not need to complete this process again, until you apply for certification. 

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact the Department of Education secretary at (816) 415-7627 or education@william.jewell.edu. 

Background checks through DESE for fieldwork and student teaching
Occasionally a student will have completed a background check through DESE (for substitute teaching) and would like to use this background check for fieldwork or student teaching. In this situation, the background check must be valid through the end of the placement and it is up to the placement school as to whether or not they will accept it. Please notify the placement coordinator in this situation and she will make arrangements with the fieldwork school. 

Students with criminal or family care safety registry records:
When a records check comes back with a criminal record of any kind, the Jewell faculty will immediately call a Care Team meeting with that student to investigate anything the student has ever been fingerprinted for. After the Care Team meeting the student will be required to do a FBI Fingerprint Check (see instructions above). Depending upon what that FBI Fingerprint Check reveals a student with a criminal or Department of Family Services (DFS) record may have to submit a request for pre-approval for certification to the Missouri State Board of Education. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Office of Conduct indicates that the following TWO situations do not merit review by the State Board: 

  • If a student has one to two misdemeanors DWI’s no review is required; UNLESS it is a felony DWI, then it MUST be reviewed by the Board. 
  • If a student has a misdemeanor passing back check charge or conviction no review is needed, BUT a review by the Board is ALWAYS REQUIRED FOR A FELONY count of passing bad checks. 

Theft must be addressed under ALL circumstances. Any Division of Family Services (DFS) infraction or any criminal conduct involving a child MUST be reviewed by the State Board of Education. 

If something shows up on a Family Care Safety Registry OR a FBI Fingerprint Background Check, the student needs to be cleared before they proceed in teacher education. We make a request for a provisional clearance, certifying that they are a teacher education student and they want an early clearance before they continue on in the program. After we make the request the student provides a written explanation and request for clearance to the Board, provides certified court documents, explains why they want to be a teacher in Missouri, etc. There is also an interview process with DESE. If, for some reason, the State Board of Education refuses the student’s request for provisional clearance and the student decides to continue on in the teacher education program, that student does so AT HIS/HER OWN RISK. William Jewell College cannot guarantee that a Missouri teaching certificate will be issued at the completion of the program. In fact, it is VERY UNLIKELY that a certificate will be issued if the State Board denies a request for provisional clearance.