City Announces New Policy After Three Separate Sexual Abuse Charges - SchoolBook After three school employees were charged with sexually molesting children in the last two weeks, the city's Education Department announced on Friday that it will tell principals if job applicants have records of misconduct. In two of the cases reported in the last week, school employees had previously been charged with having inappropriate contact with students, but in only one of them was a letter placed in the person's file, alerting future employers to the charges against him. Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott said that going forward, whenever a school employee is investigated and the allegations against him are upheld, all principals and the Education Department's human resources staff will be able to see the report. But, wrote Mr. Walcott in a letter that is being sent home with students on Friday, "Thinking prospectively is not enough. That is why my staff will look back at substantiated cases of misconduct and take appropriate action where necessary to ensure the safety of our students. City officials said they will be reviewing cases as far back as 2000, and will remove people from schools if they were accused of inappropriately touching or contacting students and those allegations were substantiated. Up until now, the Department of Education has not notified principals when the teacher or school aide they are about to hire has had substantiated charges brought against him. In one recent example, an elementary school on the Upper West Side, P.S. 87, approved the transfer of a former teacher's aide Gregory Atkins, though Mr. Atkins had been charged in 2006 with having an inappropriate relationship with a student in which he sent a boy gifts, including a jock strap. Though the charges were upheld, Mr. Atkins was not disciplined and a letter was not placed in his file.