• Report at another Montana Public School   If your fingerprint results are on file with a Montana public school or school district, or a unit of the Montana University System, those results can be disseminated from one public education entity to another, as long as the result is less than 2 years old.  Results cannot be shared across state lines or from private institutions (colleges and universities, or private schools).  Please note that schools are not required to keep fingerprint results on file after completing the hiring process. Determinations of Eligibility do not meet the MSUB, College of Education, criminal background report criteria.

    Please follow the instructions for Request for another Montana public school to share background information with MSUB

  • Report for my job (not at a MT school) or report on file at other agency.  No, as that agent would be unable to redisseminate your report to a Montana school.
  • OPI has my background report.  I am a licensed Montana Educator.   No. All students taking MSUB coursework requiring a background report must have their criminal background report and notarized Self-Disclosure on file at MSUB.  OPI cannot disseminate reports to anyone.  If you have a report at your school that is less than two years old, please follow the instructions for Request for another Montana public school to share background information with MSUB

No, however, the Crime Prevention Center comes to campus once during both the spring and fall semesters to provide fingerprinting services.  Watch the COE website for dates and times.  This usually occurs around registration for the next semester.

Yes.  Contact your local police or sheriff’s department for information on who provides fingerprinting services in the area. 

Be aware that fingerprinting service agents may ask you to complete the Employer Address, Reason Fingerprinted and the ORI information on the fingerprint card.  Please let them know MSUB will complete those areas prior to submission to the Montana Department of Justice for the report.

Jennifer Burns, Licensure Officer, Rm. 262, can provide notary services by appointment, email her at jburns@msubillings.edu. You may also check for other campus notaries at https://www/msubillings.edu/directory/notaries.htm.   Government issued ID is required for notary services. 

Students unable to obtain notary services on campus, please check with your bank for services.

Anywhere from 4-8 weeks is the general time span but in instances of a rejection it can take longer. 

Rejections occur for a variety of reasons, but typically it is due to poor print quality.  Because of the FBI procedures Criminal Justice Information System has to follow, you will need to be fingerprinted a second time.  A FBI name based report will be obtained after two rejections. If you desire, you can submit two fingerprint cards simultaneously so that if both are rejected a FBI name based report can be obtained more quickly.

There is not a set expiration date but rather benchmarks as per College of Education policy to acquire a new report.  Policy states the following:  

The College of Education at Montana State University Billings (MSUB) requires that a national criminal history background check, including fingerprinting, to be completed for all candidates enrolled in the Educator Preparation, ABA, or School Counseling Programs. Candidates cannot be admitted to the programs until this process has been completed. 

Criminal background checks are mandatory for all field experiences, internships including School Counseling and ABA Internships, clinical practices. Students complete an initial fingerprint–based national background check to apply and be registered for EDU 220 and EDSP 204. A second background report is completed and required to apply for student teaching and a school counseling internship. A background report must be on file for any candidate to enable registration for a course requiring the criminal background report. A break in attendance of one year or more requires the candidate to complete the fingerprint process to obtain a new criminal background report.

If your fingerprint results are on file with Montana State University Billings in the College of Education andthe report results are less than 2 years old, the report can be disseminated to another Montana public education school or university.  It is against FBI policy for results to be shared across state lines or to private institutions (colleges and universities, or private schools).  

Please complete the Request for Redissemination of Background Check Information (from MSUB) form.

 

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