Darlene Vineyard teaches sixth grade reading at Losoya Intermediate School in the Southside Independent School District. At least she did until two weeks ago.
In 2007, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 9. The bill laid out the requirements for faculty and staff at Texas schools, specifically that teachers and other staff submit to fingerprinting as part of a background check.
Across the state, thousands of teachers complied with the rules and were cleared to continue working. But a series of errors have kept Vineyard out of the classroom.
In January, Vineyard submitted her fingerprints. In August, she found out that those prints needed to be retaken.
Days later, she re-submitted her prints. Those prints somehow got misplaced, and without her prints on file, the state and school district say she cannot teach.
Southside ISD has placed Vineyard on paid administrative leave until the situation is cleared up.
Vineyard is hardly alone with her fingerprint troubles. According to Southside ISD, three other teachers in the district had problems with the processing of their fingerprints; however, Vineyard is the only one who had a problem with the second set of prints.
On Nov. 17, Vineyard had her fingerprints taken for the third time. The results have not been processed yet.
