Mich. Sex-Offender Law Has Educators in Uproar

A new state law meant to purge Michigan schools of sex offenders has stirred up a fierce dispute over privacy rights, as innocent school employees have begun learning that they have been misidentified as criminals.

The Student Safety Initiative, a series of laws that took effect Jan. 1, requires Michigan school districts to obtain criminal-background checks and digital fingerprints for the roughly 200,000 public school employees in the state. State law had already required fingerprints for teachers and other professional staff members who work directly with students.

The new law mandates that the names of all school employees, whether they work with students or not, be run through a Michigan State Police criminal-history database every six months until July 2008, when all districts must have completed digital...