As the NYC Department of Education reels after the arrest of the Schools Chancellor's deputy chief of staff, now the city's Department of Investigations says that the official never got a complete background check, part of a huge backlog of "unchecked" city employees.
David Hay, who joined the DOE in 2016, was taken into custody on Sunday, December 29th, after flying into the Milwaukee airport. The Neenah Police Department had been conducting an undercover investigation, and charged him with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. According to Wisconsin law, this charge means that someone "uses a computerized communication system to communicate with an individual who the actor believes or has reason to believe has not attained the age of 16 years with intent to have sexual contact or sexual intercourse with the individual."
Hay worked under former Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña as director of organizational effectiveness and had been current Chancellor Richard Carranza's deputy chief of staff, focusing on "a comprehensive organizational effectiveness and change management strategy." The DOE fired him immediately after his arrest, saying the "allegations are incredibly disturbing and absolutely unacceptable," and adding that they "referred this to the [NYC Schools'] Special Commissioner of Investigation and we will fully comply with any investigation."
On Tuesday, Margaret Garnett, the NYC Department of Investigation Commissioner, issued a statement noting that Hay never received a "completed background investigation." The NY Times had reported, "Mr. Hay had two background checks — in 2016 and 2018 — through a separate Department of Education’s process, a spokeswoman for that agency said. Those DOE checks included "running fingerprints through national criminal records and conducting a background questionnaire," per the Daily News.
Garnett said that Hay's file was part of a "significant backlog in DOI's Background Investigation Unit of approximately 6,000 applicant files, some dating back to 2015," that she inherited when she assumed her role in late 2018.
Scrutiny over the city's background check process was prompted after it was revealed in January 2019 that a top aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had been fired after allegations of sexual harassment, had actually been dismissed as senior adviser at the Democratic Governors Association, due to complaints about sexual harassment. (The Mayor's Office blamed Montana Governor Steve Bullock for not disclosing the details of O'Brien's departure.) The City Council held a hearing about background checks, and, in March, Garnett told the members that over 6,000 employees hadn't received background checks, including 1,900 who had been hired in 2016.
In Garnett's statement on Tuesday, she said that one DOI team was working to make sure current background checks are being handled efficiently and don't add to the backlog while another team had "cleared over 1,000 applicant files" in the past six moths. Additionally, she explained:
Although it is not clear whether a completed background investigation would have revealed information relevant to the current charge against Mr. Hay, the risks presented by this example are exactly why I took immediate steps to assess and then reorganize the Background Investigation Unit. However, reducing a 6,000 file backlog takes time. We are continuously evaluating the process to see if there are additional improvements that can be made, and will assess the Hay situation to see if it illuminates any broadly-applicable issues. Finally, DOI background investigations gather the facts regarding issues like tax compliance, previous arrests, and the truthfulness of a candidate’s claimed work history and educational background. Our investigations enhance a hiring agency's internal hiring process but do not supplant it, meaning the hiring agency can and should be conducting its own standard review that may include reference checks and requiring other information from a candidate.
The Neenah Police Department tells Gothamist that Hay is currently at the Winnebago County Jail and that his bail hearing is expected later this week.
Additional reporting by Lydia McMullen-Laird
