A review by the Department of Education has identified 15 people who were coaching students in Hawai'i public schools last year although they never underwent mandatory criminal background and fingerprinting checks.

Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said all of the individuals are no longer at the schools. But she also said that none were receiving paychecks, so they could have fallen into the category of volunteers rather than paid employees.

The department has no authority to demand criminal background checks of volunteers.

After a scathing audit of Kailua High School last fall showed that a number of coaches had been hired without completing the mandatory background check, Hamamoto instructed the schools to "clean this up."

As a result, public schools throughout the state have had to verify whether the coaches on their staffs had completed criminal history checks.

Another 48 coaches waiting to take spots at the schools for the coming spring sports seasons have not yet been screened — but they are in the pipeline to be fingerprinted before they begin their jobs, said Hamamoto.

She said the coaching candidates "can't work until they're cleared."

In the wake of State Auditor Marion Higa's findings that Kailua High had failed to follow through on mandatory screening of all coaches, Hamamoto has issued strongly worded directives that fingerprinting for background checking is required before coaches are employed.

"Failure to comply with the fingerprinting requirement will result in discontinuing the employment process or termination," she wrote in a Jan. 18 memo to complex area superintendents, secondary school principals and athletic directors.

There are 2,095 prospective coaches for the coming season, said Hamamoto.

Hamamoto's office sent each complex area a list of the people on the hiring list for each school who still required criminal background checks.

She has asked for an updated list of completions by Jan. 31.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.