DeKalb School Board Member Hasn't Submitted to Background Check: Report

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The DeKalb County Board of Education remains one member short while one of its members begins a court battle against the district over a background check controversy which has kept him from taking his seat.

Stan Jester, the husband of Commissioner Nancy Jester, ran unopposed for the vacant District 1 seat on the board of education but has yet to take office. He says he’s submitted a background check to the school district and should be counted as an employee, WSB-TV says. He has documents from the Dunwoody and DeKalb County police departments which show both agencies completed checks on him.

Jester refuses to submit to a background check run by an entity sanctioned by the school district, claiming it would be a conflict of interest for an organization he was elected to oversee to in turn investigate him, WSB-TV says.

The school district told WSB-TV that Jester’s state background check is just fine, but they have yet to receive a national background check with the stringency required by the district. Since the school district doesn’t consider Jester’s national background check valid, he isn’t technically an employee of the school district yet; he says he still doesn’t have a district e-mail address, security badge, or a paycheck.

Jester has retained former Congressman Bob Barr as his legal counsel, WSB-TV says.