New background checks for school volunteers

[fred8033]

Our school district just announced radical new procedures. The school district adopted the idea that volunteers need to fill out an application to register as a volunteer. New also is background checks for volunteers who server as chaperones or interact with students without staff supervision.

 

So before now, if you chaperoned a 5th grade field trip that stayed overnight in a hotel, you didnt need a background check. Now, you do.

 

Pretty ground breaking ideas for thirty years ago.

 

I was surprised five years ago when our state started requiring background checks for school bus drivers. I was surprised that it wasnt already required.

 

It is ironic that BSA is a continual target for youth protection accusations but schools even up to now had no background checks and no tracking records. You would think that schools would set the standard.

 

So until now, our schools had no record of who was doing what with the students. The person coordinating probably had an idea. But no records. No tracking. No coordination. Think of all the school, sports, and extra-curricular groups dozen plus sports, cheer leading, dance line, drama, debate, arts, academic all with some type of booster / support group. Many with local and overnight trips. How about the volunteer reading assistants who pull kids out of class?

 

Sort of makes me wonder if and when the school district started doing background checks on coaches, assistant coaches, staff that only receive stipends for services, etc. Hmmm..

 

[fred8033]

Just reading the referenced policy. It was updated in April but announced to parents today in our school's daily email.

 

The big change is that it's now like scouting in that you pay to volunteer. LOL.

 

"The employee or volunteer will pay an amount for the criminal history background check that does not exceed the actual cost of the service. An applicant who accepts employment will be responsible for paying the cost of the criminal history background check, with the amount deducted out of the first paycheck the employee receives. School or program volunteers must provide a money order or check payable to the school district in order for the background check to be completed."

[perdidochas]

The local district doesn't require an extensive background check for volunteers. It does, however, check you against the state sex offenders list. Not intrusive, takes about a minute.

 

Now anybody that works at the school district, from principals to teachers to roof workers, all need fingerprinting, etc.

[fred8033]

We have to write a check for $17.50 to pay for the background check.

[nldscout]

If your only paying $17.50 they are not getting much of a check. depending on the depth of the check an extensive BI can run into several hundred.

 

Your getting by cheap. That said this is why the schools never did them, its the cost.

[Troop185]

After teaching for over 30 years, friends of mine retired from teaching in a rural district in Northern Michigan. At retirement, they were both teaching 3rd grade across the hall from each other.

 

The wife decided she wanted to continue teaching, one or two days a week. She signed up to be a substitute teacher in the same district. Because of school policy, they made her get fingerprinted, and she had to pay for it herself! And this was about 18 years ago.

[Second Class]

The background checks in this area are $67.50, and are done from a company in Oregon. About as far from here as you can get.

 

My troop is discussing how to get in front of this issue. We may go with full background checks on all leaders. We require YPT for all adults, registered or not, when camping with us.

 

 

[ZScout5]

Several years ago our school district started requiring all school volunteers and field trip chaperones to be fingerprinted.

[WasE61]

In our school districts, if you have direct contact with any students, you have to be fingerprinted and background check through the State and FBI. The districts pay the costs.

 

The checks are run every year that you volunteer.

 

Same is true in the youth baseball league I work with...and the volunteer has to pay the costs.

[fred8033]

WasE61 wrote: "Same is true in the youth baseball league I work with...and the volunteer has to pay the costs."

 

Not where I'm at. Some youth leagues require background checks. Others don't. Depends on if they are an "independent" association or tied to a school or the city. Very inconsistent.

 

The other thing I've seen is that there are no "policies" for youth protection. Just because someone has a clear background check, doesn't mean they are safe. So schools now do background checks. How about training? Expectations?

[Horizon]

I was fingerprinted in my role at the University, and I was fingerprinted to be a coach in youth club soccer. AYSO runs background checks on everyone as part of their procedures - not sure which type though (it shows up as a credit check). I know that it uncovers criminal convictions - because I was in a role where I could see the convictions, and had to review them with the national organization if something came up. The only things I ever saw were DUI and drunk & disorderly.

[NJCubScouter]

New Jersey has required background checks and (more recently) fingerprinting for teachers for a number of years, not sure how long. I am not sure about volunteers. I do know that in the past 2-3 years, school board members have become subject to the background check/fingerprinting requirements, which as far as I know, no other elected government officials are subject to. If the excuse is that a school board member would be likely to visit a school while children are present more often than most other government officials (which is probably true), my response would be that the schools are visited much more often by parents -- not even necessarily as volunteers, just in their role as parents -- and nobody would suggest that a parent must be fingerprinted and background-checked simply to visit their child's school. So I am not quite sure why school board members are subject to this requirement, except that it is one of a number of requirements that have been piled on school board members (who at least in New Jersey, are unpaid) so nobody will want to be a school board member anymore, which has become increasingly true. (As "older" forum members may recall, I was once a school board member, which is why I pay attention to this.)