by Allison Ross

Jefferson County Public Schools accidentally hired a teacher with a felony drug record despite the fact that the teacher had fully disclosed her criminal history in her application.

The state's largest school district, which has been without an HR director for more than half a year, said a clerical error was the cause of the breach of policy.

The clerical staff has since been retrained to ensure the same issue does not recur, JCPS spokeswoman Bonnie Hackbarth said.

The teacher, Deilia Butler, was convicted in 1992 for conspiracy to traffic in heroin after she said a friend approached her in Las Vegas with a $15,000 deal to bring drugs to the United States from Japan, according to court documents.

She was hired by JCPS at the beginning of this school year to teach special needs students at the Academy @ Shawnee.

After JCPS received a tip in September that she was an ex-felon, JCPS reassigned her away from the school "pending final personnel decisions." Butler resigned later that month, citing her change in employment status as well as "recurring medical issues."

Butler, when reached by phone, declined to comment.

On Butler's application to JCPS, she truthfully answered yes to the question of whether she had a criminal record, explaining in the application that she had a felony conviction from 1992 that she had fully disclosed to the state's Education Professional Standards Board before it gave her a teaching certificate.

The Standards Board in 2014 had initially denied Butler's application for a teaching certificate, citing her 1992 conviction. But Butler appealed the denial and her certificate was approved after she agreed to undergo a comprehensive alcohol/substance abuse assessment and take a course on ethics for Kentucky certified school personnel, among other requirements.

Kentucky law states that the Standards Board can choose to deny or revoke a teaching certificate to someone who has a felony. However, state law only stipulates that districts are prohibited from hiring violent offenders or those with felony sex offenses.

However, JCPS board policy is more strict, stating that employment of certified staff hinges, among other things, on the applicant not having "any felony offense."

Butler initially applied to teach in JCPS in January, according to district records. It appears that in March, she was given "reasonable assurance of employment as a substitute" in the district.

However, a month later, she received a letter saying that "after careful review of your file, credentials and work history," JCPS decided that other applicants "better suit the needs of our students for substitute teaching."

That letter said Butler would not receive any further consideration for a substitute teaching job.

Yet a couple months later, Butler was offered the high school special needs teaching position at the Academy @ Shawnee.

JCPS board chairman David Jones Jr. said the board is "always disappointed when errors are made," but said that in Butler's case, it seemed that JCPS tried to rectify the situation immediately. He pointed out that the board has prioritized the improvement of human resources practices in the district.

Butler's felony conviction has cost her at least one other teaching position besides the one in JCPS.

Last year, Butler was the main subject of a Washington Post article about how Fairfax (Virginia) County Public Schools had mistakenly hired seven employees who were convicted felons.

As with JCPS, Butler truthfully noted on her Fairfax application that she had a felony on her record. But she worked for Fairfax for about eight years without issue; district staff there apparently only noticed they had mistakenly hired her and other ex-felons after Butler inquired whether her conviction for drug trafficking, for which she had served 42 months, could affect her attempts to become a district administrator.

Butler is still embroiled in a legal battle over her employment in Fairfax.

The question of whether felony convictions should automatically eliminate candidates from teaching positions has cropped up periodically across the country.

For instance, Florida's Duval County Public Schools, the nation's 20th-largest school district, opted in 2013 to change its policy to allow people with certain felonies dating back more than 10 years to be considered for employment.In news stories at the time, Duval's superintendent said the change was made in part because he believed in giving people a second chance.

Butler has attempted to get her record expunged, according to court documents. In a March 2013 letter, she pleaded with a federal judge in Ohio, saying that she takes full responsibility for her "one-time irresponsible act and behavior that I allowed myself to get caught up in." But she also shifts blame to a number of people in her life, including relatives, police, her own defense attorney and a woman she met in Las Vegas.

She added in the letter that her "criminal act has caused others to do more than just label me, my past, present, and shut doors to and on my life," but has affected her health as well. She told the judge that her felony has made some prospective employers determine she wasn't "worth a risk."

Butler said in her letter, which included a copy of her resume, that she taught while she was incarcerated, saying she sees teaching as a way she can help "empower future generations to advocate for themselves through learning and growing, sharing and gaining wisdom together in the classroom."