Our school does background check too. We just ask for DL# and SSN# we don't do the fingerprints. Not sure who we go through to do the check though. But we have an MVP program that all volunteers must go through to volunteer at the school. Its just basically an education course on how to handle certain situations with the kids, what we want from the parents, things like that. This is done by our school district though not the PTO.
Cindy
Cindy<br />
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<br>"People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse the privelege."
We have had required background checks for volunteers for years. Required for any volunteering on campus or field trips. We have to resubmit each year. It takes a couple of weeks, so the Parent Group always pushes the paperwork at the begining of the year, so parents don't get left out of a field trip because they delayed getting their paperwork turned in.
Our schools have now also added a computerized DL scanner at the front desk, every visitor/volunteer that enters the building has to scan thier ID each time they enter - it is checked against the sex offenders database and is more current than just the background check.
I believe the state (Texas) or county covers the cost of the background checks.
I love it, as a parent for the protection of my children. As a PTT President, It protects us from parents who have something to 'hide'. We have had a few parents denied the right to volunteer bacause of a bad background check. It takes a bit of diplomacy, but we only want volunteers who are trustworthy and safe around our kids. Duh!
our district does not require finger printing, they do have a district volunteer application that they like regular volunteers to fill out. Last year was the first year that our school truly pushed filling this out and we had a good response. On it you need to put you dl, ssn, references, criminal record, etc. It does say right on it that at any time they can choose to check you out. If our volunteers had to pay to be fingerprinted I think that you would see us fall apart quick, our district charges between 90-100.00 and that is alot of money for most people!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
This is something that has been bothering me for some time. Jessica Lundsford lived in Citrus County which is only 35 miles from where I live. I'm trying to pursue the background info w/o trying to step on toes. I do know that volunteers have to give a copy of their DL and SS number before they are allowed in classrooms. There are no one on one time between volunteers and children.
Of course, middle & high school are different. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it with my younger kids. My 17 yr old is very aware of being alone with people that she's not comfortable with.
Our school has a policy that if you are volunteering in full sight of others, you did not need to be fingerprinted. If you are working one on one and transporting a class of kids to lunchh, you needed to be fingerprinted.
This year our school had heard rumors of everyone needing to be done and it was a rukus! People do not want to pay to volunteer then be asked to buy this and that. We still don't know the answer to the question. I just know that I see parents who are not fingerprinted walking the halls going to point A and passing a child in the halls. What happens then?
Our school pays to have a background check for our volunteers. I love to tell ya who they go through, I do know the police will do fingerprinting for free (on certain days etc) but not sure if they send for the information or if the school does the whole thing online. I do know there are sites that you can use for a much smaller fee (we have a mom that volunteers with the court system that is always doing background checks on the internet--mainly on a dead beat dad that is her nephew and she is raising his daugher).
