“Manassas principal resigns, loses teaching license after allegedly faking résumé”
That’s Wednesday’s headline in the Metro section of the Washington Post about former local elementary school Principal Robin Toogood, II, who was found to have falsified all of his education credentials. Here’s the sad truth: People do lie about their credentials. These fabrications are found at every level from undergrads to PHDs and CEOs. Padding resumes is unfortunately part of our culture.

It happens in the nanny world, too. I personally learned a big lesson in my early years at White House Nannies. It was embarrassing and also instructive. A young college woman said she had graduated from George Washington University. We called all her references but didn’t check with the university to verify her degree. As luck and pure happenstance would have it, the client I passed her information onto was on the board of trustees of that university. She checked and found out that our candidate had been a student there but had never graduated. While the degree was not a pre-requisite for the nanny position, honesty and trustworthiness certainly were. That lie left her dead in the water despite the fact that she was great with kids.

Every parent wants to know that the people hired to take care of their children, whether in a school system or in their homes, are who they say they are and that their resumes and applications are true reflections of their experience. For those doing the hiring, it’s all about due diligence. We expect our schools to be doing a better job of screening their employees. In this case, Mr. Toogood had a long list of admirers. He was good at his job. But he lied. Repeatedly. Somebody should have caught his embellishments along the way.

Recently, there has been a rash of bad caregivers hired from online sites who purportedly have clean background checks. Unfortunately for the public at large, the world of background checks is murky. Even for those of us in the field, understanding what constitutes a thorough check is not always easily grasped. For example, a check of the National Criminal File sounds impressive — but it is not and should never be relied on its own. Most people have no idea. Parents deserve peace of mind when it comes to the care and education of their children . The Association of Professional Nanny Agencies is working on an educational tool for parents right now, so stay tuned!