KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As 28-year-old Dennis Hernandez is set to go before a federal judge Tuesday, experts weighed in on the role background checks and parents play in helping prevent child sex crimes.
“We can't not talk about sexual abuse,” said Ann Thomas, president and CEO of The Children’s Place, a nonprofit organization that works with children under the age of 8 after they undergo trauma. “The other thing that’s really hard about this is young children don’t know that it’s wrong.”
That trauma’s not unlike what the alleged elementary-aged victims of Hernandez experienced.
Hernandez currently faces child pornography charges.
He was a staff member at a minimum of seven different North Kansas City schools between 2021 and 2025.
His most recent role was as a first grade teacher in Independence for two days.
Both districts shared separate statements with KSHB 41 mentioning law enforcement databases and criminal history checks as a part of their respective background check processes.
North Kansas City School District's statement:
"This individual is no longer an employee of the district, and we take all reports of wrongdoing very seriously to ensure our schools remain a safe and nurturing environment for all," according to the statement. "As a standard procedure, all employees undergo background checks, and law enforcement databases are continuously monitored. "We are fully supporting and cooperating with federal and local law enforcement as they conduct their investigation. We are committed to ensuring accountability."
Independence School District's statement:
"The ISD conducts fingerprint-based background checks for all employees, which include a review of criminal history records from both the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, a search under the Family Care Safety Registry is conducted to check for child neglect and sex offender offenses within the State of Missouri. We take these responsibilities seriously and will continue to uphold the highest standards to protect our students and staff."
“When you hear 'background check,' people think that it's very thorough and comprehensive,” said Ken Trump, the president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland, Ohio-based national school safety and security firm. “A background check should be thorough and comprehensive beyond the first step, which is the criminal history check.”
Trump says state mandates are typically limited to criminal checks. He urges districts to also check employment, credit and driving history to help uncover red flags “such as hopping district to district, gaps in employment, questionable evaluations.”
“A person may commit an offense even though they’ve had a clean background and have not been prosecuted and convicted,” Trump said. “Sometimes, schools will pass problem employees along to other districts by having them resign when there’s warning signs rather than prosecuting them for any type of offenses.”
He says there can also be offenses that take place or fly under the radar.
“If that’s not reported back to the school either by law enforcement or by the employee voluntarily telling school officials, it may go unknown,” Trump said.
Trump added there are various factors that could contribute to a school board or district’s choice to fund or add on to state-mandated background check regulations.
“It takes time, it takes money, and it takes an agreement with the unions or professional associations representing teachers and school staff to do those follow-up background checks ... periodically," he said. "Assign time to make sure an employee has not picked up something outside the school since the time of their initial hire."
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) works with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on background checks for teacher certifications before they're hired.
These checks flag convictions ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.
When someone is arrested, DESE is made aware through the joint system it shares with the law enforcement agencies, and will typically monitor a person’s case until it's final.
“At that point, what we can do is monitor and watch for the final dispositions before we can actually determine whether or not we need to take additional actions,” said Eric Avant, director of conduct and investigations for DESE.
Avant told KSHB 41's Rachel Henderson that substitute teachers must be recertified every four years.
A DESE spokesperson told Henderson that Hernandez was granted his substitute teacher certification on Dec.11, 2020, and again on Dec. 11, 2024.
His certification has not been revoked as of Monday.
Avant says DESE processes anywhere between 3,000 to 4,000 applicants a month for background checks and may find 100 they have to ask more questions about.
From there, he says only eight or nine may be ones they take action on.
He says reapplying for a certification or moving districts can trigger new background checks.
Hernandez remained in the North Kansas City School District for the majority of his career.
“The 'woulda, coulda, shouldas' don't matter,” Thomas said. “These children were victims to someone else who was very skilled at enticing children.”
Thomas’ advice for parents is to not be afraid to have conversations with children about their bodies and to even get specific with naming body parts and identifying trusted adults.
She also says specifying the type of relationships children have and teaching them the difference between a family member versus a teacher or coach is something you can never do too early.
“If you can talk to your child about hard things, then they know these conversations are important and can happen with them,” Thomas said.
More than anything, she says it’s important to know where to place the blame in a situation like this — not on parents or the child but on the perpetrator.
“We don't ever want to blame ourselves,” Thomas said. “Having that courage to have a voice to say, 'This didn't feel right; this happened and I didn't like it,' is really important for children to know.”
The FBI has opened up a website for potential victims of Hernandez.
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KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
