The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Teacher Education Program Background Check Procedures & Policies for Students

Procedures

The State of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Teacher Education Program requires you to undergo a Tennessee/TBI fingerprint-based background check. Please follow the steps below:

  1. Prior to being fingerprinted, complete and sign a Fingerprint Release Form and email (from your UTC Email) to soebackground@utc.edu. Make sure that the form is complete and signed before sending. If you cannot use the digital signature feature, then you will need to print out, sign and send the scanned document as an attachment. If the image is unclear, it will be denied, so please make sure the scanned imaged is clear and keep your original until you are cleared.

  2. Read thoroughly and follow the instructions on this form.

  3. After you get fingerprinted, they will give you a receipt. You must email a copy of this receipt (taking a picture of it is fine) to soebackground@utc.edu. You must put your UTC ID on the copy of the receipt. We will not search for your results unless we have received a copy of your receipt with your UTC ID clearly written on the top. The requirement will not be met until your clear results have been received by the SOE. 

 

Professional Liability Insurance

To apply for Professional Student Liability Insurance:

Go to either the Professional Educators of Tenessee website, the Tennessee Education Association website, or purchase liability insurance in the Bursar's Office.

Each insurance option has different expiration dates, so please check before purchasing. For example, if you buy your insurance from the Bursar’s office, it always expires on May 31 for that school year.

Join one of these organizations, and you will automatically get the insurance. But in order for this requirement to be fulfilled, you must email (from your UTC Email) a copy of the receipt with your UTC ID clearly written on top to soebackground@utc.edu (subject line: "Liability Insurance").

Fingerprinting Policies

Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 5, Part 5610 specifies that all students wishing to enter approved teacher training programs in Tennessee shall be required to submit to a criminal history background check.

I.  Policy Background

TCA 49-5-5610 requires students wishing to enter an approved teacher training program in Tennessee to:

 

  1. Agree to the release of all investigative records to the administrator of the teacher training program;

  2. Supply a fingerprint sample and submit to a criminal history records check to be conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation;

  3. Sign an authorization and release form authorizing a qualified Tennessee licensed private investigation company to complete a criminal history records check.

II.  Institutional Policy

 

In order to comply with TCA 49-5-5610, institutions are required to implement policies that address the following:

  1. Before acceptance into an approved teacher training program, students must complete in its entirety and sign a background check authorization form that is provided by the University of Tennessee.

  2. As part of the admission process to approved teacher education programs, students must supply a fingerprint sample to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and submit to a criminal history records check performed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
  3. Entrance to the teacher training program shall be denied if the student has a past conviction that would trigger automatic revocation of a teaching license, as provided in the Rules of the Tennessee Board of Education (0520-2-4-.01).

 

Students shall be denied admission to teacher preparation programs if they have been convicted of any of the following criminal offenses (as provided in the Rules of the Tennessee Board of Education 0520-2-4-.01).

 

  1.     Murder in the first degree
  2.     Murder in the second degree
  3.     Especially aggravated kidnapping
  4.     Aggravated kidnapping
  5.     Especially aggravated robbery
  6.     Aggravated rape
  7.     Rape
  8.     Aggravated sexual battery
  9.     Rape of a child
  10.     Aggravated child abuse
  11.     Aggravated rape of a child
  12.     Sexual exploitation of a minor involving more than one hundred (100) images
  13.     Aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor involving more than twenty-five (25) images
  14.     Especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor
  15.     Manufacture of a controlled substance
  16.     Delivery of a controlled substance
  17.     Sale of a controlled substance
  18.     Possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell the controlled substance