The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is the Dallas Independent School District. They get the award for the following-

Years after being advised by a state agency to stop, the Dallas Independent School District continued to provide foreign citizens with fake Social Security numbers to get them on the payroll quickly.

Some of the numbers were real Social Security numbers already assigned to people elsewhere. And in some cases, the state's educator certification office unknowingly used the bogus numbers to run criminal background checks on the new hires, most of whom were brought in to teach bilingual classes.

The practice was described in an internal report issued in September by the district's investigative office, which looked into the matter after receiving a tip. The report said the Texas Education Agency learned of the fake numbers in 2004 and told DISD then that the practice "was illegal."

It's unclear how long DISD had been issuing the phony numbers, and district officials didn't know Thursday how many had been given out. But the investigative report and interviews with DISD employees indicate the practice went on for several years before it was discontinued this past summer.

DISD human resources chief Kim Olson, who came to the district in 2007, said that she learned about the false numbers this past summer around the time the district's investigative unit was looking into them and that she put a stop to the practice.

"There's no way we should be doing that kind of stuff," Ms. Olson said. "Even if your intention is good to help employees get paid, you can't use inappropriate procedures to do that."

Besides the plain ilegality of what was done, how would the people who approved this like their social security numbers used by other people. I bet not too much, it can play havoc with people's lifes from taxes, to credit reports, to even being falsely accused of being a criminal. The school district could be sued by the legitimate holders of those Social security numbers.

Everyone who was behind this should be fired. In the meantime I name the Dallas Independent School District today's Knucklehead of the Day. I truly suggest readers go and read The Dallas Morning News article in its entirety.

Hat tip- Michelle Malkin