We MUST pass Criminal and Child Abuse checks BEFORE being able to volunteer at school. It is the best way to be sure that the kids are safe. The volunteer pays for these checks out of their own pocket. At one time, the PTO paid the fee for the volunteer, but it got to be way too much. It doesn't seem to decrease the amount of volunteers at our school.
All schools/districts should have these checks to make sure our kids are safe in school. You just never, ever know!!
I can't imagine a school where parents aren't allowed to volunteer. Our school couldn't function without all our volunteers.
Our process is our PTO has a volunteer coordinator that is in charge of making sure every volunteer has a current TB test (given free by the school nurse) and fills out an application with some background information. We make the volunteers sign in and out. No background checks or fingerprinting is required by our school district, but I suspect it won't be long before they do.
Our volunteers do everything from helping at PE to organizing homework packets to teaching art classes to helping in our library and on the playground. Parents are welcome in the school at any time (as long as the teacher agrees).
Volunteers within the schools are wonderful. Due to many cutbacks last year our school dept. hired a very part time volunteer coordinator to do just that for our school system. Our PTO has assigned the position of volunteer coordinator as well for this year to act as a liason between the dept. coordinator and our school. But confidentiality and child safety is key. Our school dept. gets a background check on everyone. If you are helping out within the school in any capacity - you will have a background check. Some of our volunteers were parents, but a handful were not. Sad to say, but you can never be too careful these days.
C. Brooks, [img]smile.gif[/img] Thank you for responding to my question, I would like to recieve more information. Thank you, Kammy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Originally posted by C. Brooks: Our board of education pays for the background checks.
It works very well. I am working on a volunteer program that I started a couple years ago and the other elementary in our county is starting one too. We hope to collaberate some on this. Confidentiality is a MUST. Our new super, also a family friend, is very big on this and he supports parental and community involvment in our schools.
I've done a massive amount of research on Parental and Community involvement for myself, PTO, and my college classes. I can't imagine any school not promoting it in todays time. So if your school is balking about that, keep up the fight. It does make a difference.
One thing we do to involve the whole community is to promote reading days such as: Read Across America, Holiday Story Reading Day, and Dr. Seuss Week.
I have alot info on this subject if you would like to email me with specific questions I would be more than glad to help.
Our board of education pays for the background checks.
It works very well. I am working on a volunteer program that I started a couple years ago and the other elementary in our county is starting one too. We hope to collaberate some on this. Confidentiality is a MUST. Our new super, also a family friend, is very big on this and he supports parental and community involvment in our schools.
I've done a massive amount of research on Parental and Community involvement for myself, PTO, and my college classes. I can't imagine any school not promoting it in todays time. So if your school is balking about that, keep up the fight. It does make a difference.
One thing we do to involve the whole community is to promote reading days such as: Read Across America, Holiday Story Reading Day, and Dr. Seuss Week.
I have alot info on this subject if you would like to email me with specific questions I would be more than glad to help.
We have many parents that donate their time at the school. Either in the classroom, lunchroom, media center... We also have a program with the local community college where students from the college come and help Kindergarten with reading. We do not use background checks for any of our volunteers, however volunteers are not left unsupervised. A teacher, para, or other school representative (that has had a background check) must be present and students must be in view of the school representaivite at all times. This means that teachers may not run to the office while a volunteer is with their students. This normally leaves the volunteer as the gopher which is fine. If something personal comes up the teacher must ask another teacher to step into the room even if their is a volunteer present.
