The University is examining its criteria for conducting background checks on employees and volunteers after a man allowed to photograph children at two University child-care centers was arrested on prior out-of-state incest charges.
University officials will meet with parents in February to discuss the steps that have been taken and hear concerns about what should be done to prevent such an incident from happening again, Director of Student Activities Gregg Lobisser said.
Lobisser said the focus has been on the University’s background check policy and whether it needs to be revamped. Because the child-care centers are part of the University, they are subject to the same policies, Lobisser said, so changing policies at the child-care centers would mean changing policies for the entire University.
“We should be coordinating our thinking about this into a common policy and common agreement about University policy on background checks,” Lobisser said.
Though no inappropriate behavior occurred during the multiple photography sessions that Stephen Dale Jackson, 31, conducted at the center, his arrest in Portland on Dec. 2 on Louisiana felony charges of aggravated incest caused concern among University officials about how his criminal past went undetected.
The University did not issue a background check on Jackson because he was living with a family that used the center and was considered to be “a member of the child-care community,” Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leavitt said.
Lobisser said University officials have been in contact with other child-care centers and organizations across Oregon to gather information on other background-check policies and procedures, specifically those pertaining to parents and family members who want to be more involved at the center.
Nancy deRonde, director of the child-care centers at Oregon State University, said criminal background checks are a regular part of the hiring process at the centers and everyone, from interns to volunteers, is subjected to one before coming into contact with the children.
Parents are strongly encouraged to spend time at the centers and become involved in activities, Lobisser said, but after Jackson’s arrest it became clear that some changes to precautionary procedures are necessary.
Involvement is encouraged, but “at what point does that change their status from parent, one of the family, to someone who is serving the larger community?” Lobisser asked, adding that “maximum involvement and maximum protection” are difficult to achieve.
The photographs Jackson took at the centers have not been recovered, Lobisser said, and the police and FBI are still working to locate them. Lobisser said it is “very disconcerting” that the photographs have not been found but said the University is concentrating on making necessary changes to policies and hearing parents’ concerns rather than on the criminal investigation.
“Our task is to care for children, address parents’ concerns as best we can, stay in touch with law enforcement agencies and relay information to parents,” Lobisser said.

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