Hard to imagine a worse way to start a new chapter. Jodi Smith had just hauled her family from Minnesota to San Jose, California. She’d landed a special education teaching job, and started setting up her classroom. Then the floor gave out. A routine background check rang up a 15-year-old DUI conviction. Problem was, she’d never been arrested for driving under the influence.

Her husband had just begun a new job at Apple, and her salary was supposed to help support their family of four in one of the country’s priciest housing markets.

The DUI and felony record belonged to a different “Smith”

Still, the school district pulled her from the classroom.

She was in shock. The state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing denied her certification based on a Tulare County conviction from more than a decade ago.

Smith responded that she’d never even set foot in California until 2015…six years after this alleged DUI.

But officials suggested she file paperwork acknowledging the conviction, pay new fees, and clear it up later. Smith refused.

She insisted the DUI wasn’t hers

Her fingerprints were indeed clean. But the “soft check,” based only on matching names and numbers, listed arrests tied to three people named Smith.

One of them had that DUI. That’s the charge the district wouldn’t let slide. Smith says that she kept repeating it wasn’t her, but no one seemed willing or able to help.

The DOJ eventually sent over the rap sheet…weeks later

She said a small disclaimer acknowledged it was a name-only match, not based on fingerprints. 

Still, it was used against her. She reported feeling angry and helpless.

As the dispute crawled through channels, students remained in class each day. She was still teaching, first as an aide, then as an emergency substitute.

Smith says because she was standing in front of children who needed a teacher, she executed the same responsibilities she would have under normal teaching.

But she was earning a fraction of the pay. She explained, tearily, that she hid in her classroom with the door closed most days and pushed through for the kids.

By December, the DOJ confirmed she was not the person tied to the DUI

She finally received her credentials. But the fallout lingered: $24,000 in lost wages. Months of professional damage and emotional strain.

Smith feels mortified that there’s no protection for people with common names. After this experience, she’d move back to Minnesota if she could afford it.

Neither the district nor any involved agencies have taken responsibility for the lost wages, so it seems her family’s simply out more than $20k. I’d assume legal action could be taken.

With the DOJ performing two million background checks a year, there’s no clear answer on how often mistakes like this occur.