School District ends background checks for volunteers

aaarcher86 · Oct 9, 2015

DanceswithDisney said:
If you want to read story after story of background checked and fingerprinted teachers who had sexual relations with minor children I can very much assure you it has happened!

No one said it doesn't.

What people are saying is that having a background checked teacher do something inappropriate doesn't mean I want to take away a precaution to keep people with criminal records away as well.

That same teacher now won't be able to volunteer at their kids school because of a background check. Without it, they could just volunteer in 5 years.

cabanafrau · Oct 9, 2015

DanceswithDisney said:
If you want to read story after story of background checked and fingerprinted teachers who had sexual relations with minor children I can very much assure you it has happened!

Seriously? I can't imagine.

Actually I can. There's not enough brain bleach that will ever remove the things I've seen and heard from my mind. The fact that background cleared individuals are subsequently convicted of crimes against children is hardly surprising to me, nor is it to anyone with an iota of understanding of the subject.

ETA: Inherent in the description, background checks pertain to incidents that have happened in the past.

Flight · Oct 9, 2015

What is going on in the classroom, the school building, practice fields, PTA events, or field trips that has prompted this urgent need for background checks?

Teresa Pitman · Oct 9, 2015

To respond to the person saying that background checks aren't needed if the volunteer is not going to be alone with the children: the problem is that just seeing the person in the school gives the child a sense of familiarity and security. So if "Joe" is a pedophile, and he volunteers at the school but is never alone with the kids, it still increases the risk. Because when he sees that child later at a playground or perhaps walking home, he looks familiar. He reminds the child that he volunteers in the school office. And then when he offers a ride home or wants to show the child something at his house, the child is far more likely to go along with it.

Do background checks prevent all crimes against children? No, obviously not. But they can help.

bcla · Oct 9, 2015

Flight said:
What is going on in the classroom, the school building, practice fields, PTA events, or field trips that has prompted this urgent need for background checks?

It's a requirement in many schools - primarily a check for criminal records. I did it a few times early morning without it, but was told eventually I'd need to do the check. We have a central facility in this school district, but it's at an inconvenient place. They're also doing these no appointment needed background check events at different schools on weekends, so I'll probably do it there.

MickeySP · Oct 9, 2015

Minnesota! said:
Same here. And, I couldn't care either way if they continued. I mean, priests are around my kids each day. And, we know how scary that can be...ahem.

Very reason my kid was never an altar boy even though his education was parochial

Dawnlight said:
I get to know the parents of my kids' friends, too, but to what extent do you really know a person before you deem them acceptable to be with your child?

I recently found out that a parent of a some of my kids' friends has a DUI and the license is suspended. I'm not sure how to go about things if or when the license is reinstated and the person is driving. I do, though, allow them to visit at that person's house.

I suppose the perfect DIS parents here would frown upon that decision.

I would have no problem with that. My DS had a wonderful coach who had 2 DUIs, I told him just no car with him. We had a set up so he could blame me and so no. I am happy to play the bad guy for my child.

DanceswithDisney said:
The idea that I would have to pay to volunteer is ludicrous. I am already offering my time, do not make me pay to give you free help. When you have had a budget that caused you to furlough teachers and have furlough educational days and a hiring freeze, you cannot also spend the money on background checks. So in my area, they were collecting information and not actually running any checks at all. So in our case no one was being kept safe in the first place. However, teachers who were run through background checks and sex offender database have had relations with minor children.

I am glad this useless theater of a policy is gone and I hope more parents will volunteer.

I would happily pay 60, 70 or 100 to give a patent peace of mind. Heck I spend more on wine in 3 years, no big expense.

Flight said:
What is going on in the classroom, the school building, practice fields, PTA events, or field trips that has prompted this urgent need for background checks?

REALLY!?!?!?! I wanna live in your world.

No one, I mean no one had close contact with my child that I did not do a background on. Nope, wasn't happening. Every coach, teacher etc... Same now for DGD. You don't like it - the door swings to exit too.

Btw you do know that most general background check only deal with convictions, not arrests. So if you are arrest for Rape under 14 and plead to assault the assault shows not the specific Rape under 14.

Flight · Oct 9, 2015

bcla said:
It's a requirement in many schools - primarily a check for criminal records.

Yes, to determine if someone has a criminal background. But what events among parent volunteers caused everyone to declare that a background check is now a necessity to make the children safer?

Are there no teachers, staff, or administrators in the classrooms and schools watching over the students while a class mom is there for a few hours to help out? Are there no parents on the sidelines watching a volunteer football coach?Are there no other coaches on the fileld watching?

A mom or dad wants to help out at the school book fair but cannot because the background check was not accomplished in some determined time. How are the students at risk if that parent was in the building during the school day assisting with the event without the background check?

TheSchragFamily · Oct 10, 2015

Follow the money! These background checks are far more about liability than safety, no matter what the powers-that-be tell themselves. MOST people who pose a threat to children DO NOT have a criminal history. Background checks allow schools to say (truthfully) that they did everything available to them to attempt to discover a potential risk to children. They can't be blamed for allowing someone with no history of child abuse (or other crimes) to volunteer, so therefore their liability is limited.

fly girl · Oct 10, 2015

Our diocese makes all schools undergo Virtus training, and background checks with fingerprints. To maintain your cleared status to do any activities in the school/church, you have to do online training each month (that's nothing, really a joke imho). No doubt this was put in place due to priest sexual scandals. Sad.

It's not a big deal to do the steps to me. The Virtus training took 1 afternoon and it was depressing, but I want to be a room parent and help with class parties so I sucked it up. Is it going to deter all bad people? Absolutely not. But can it deter some? Sure can. And I'd rather keep some away versus none.

cijay · Oct 10, 2015

Regardless if it were being done or not, it was a shame that the background check kept people from volunteering. Anyone who works/volunteers with our company has to have one and they have to bring the papers with them for their file.

Tiffylv · Oct 10, 2015

MIGrandma · Oct 10, 2015

I can't even imagine schools NOT doing background checks on people who want to volunteer in the school. To me that's just ridiculous, and certainly not a good thing for someone to get excited and happy over. Wow.

RitaE · Oct 10, 2015

So they were collecting information and not doing anything, but telling everybody they were doing background checks? But now they're not even pretending?

I think I'd be unhappy with the previous situation but appreciate them at least being honest about it now. Happy would be a stretch.

Our school does some kind of minimum database check for everybody who enters the building and names that come up as problematic have to be escorted by school personnel constantly while in the building. People with just a standard "Visitors Pass" come in and out but they aren't left alone with any children except their own. If somebody volunteers more extensively they will often get a background check and then they get a permanent ID which means they can come in and out of the buildings just by swiping that ID and not having to go through the whole Office Visitor Pass process.

MSLRAC · Oct 10, 2015

Background checks are done in my school but it's rare that any of them come back with a record for sex or violent crimes. But there have been a handful that came back with records for theft, fraud, forgery, bad checks, and embezzlement. Those can be serious issues with parents volunteering in positions that handle money. Those parents are still allowed to volunteer but in limited capacities. There have also been a few come back with drug and alcohol records. Those are handled case by case by administration.

There is a nominal fee for the checks to be run and that's covered by our PTA. They started covering the cost a few years ago when another school in our area had their PTA treasurer make off with over $10,000 in money that had been raised for a new playground.

It would not make me happy as a parent or teacher if my school stopped doing the checks because honestly, if a parent was deterred from volunteering because they knew we run those checks then they are not a parent that needs to be in the school or classroom volunteering.

mjkacmom · Oct 10, 2015

What kind if background check takes 2 minutes online? Here it's $60, you go in person to a city, pay for parking, only hours are during the week, and you must make an appointment. Coaches get background checks through a different agency than the schools. DH is a coach, so he had to go through the process again when they needed him to chaperone a school camping trip (had to pay for the background check and the trip).

daisyduck123 · Oct 10, 2015

Public School Teacher Here in Md....

My County does background checks for parents who want to chaperone Field Trips. The checks are ACTUALLY done....I know...in the past few years, I've had two parents fail the background check.

Mkrop · Oct 10, 2015

In PA, it is just a bunch of forms and I dont know how much it costs because the school pays for it. I did have to get fingerprinted and pay for that, it wasnt a lot. And I could do that at the local UPS store.

I am glad our school does it, I would be very UNHAPPY if they stopped.

DS18 just had to complete his and his employer paid for it. He is a dishwasher and rarely interacts with guests, but it is a retreat house where children can be present for overnights or day activities. He sometimes has no clue who was eating in the dining room, yet bc there are kids, he had to be cleared. In fact he just handed his form in today that he is cleared.

tinkerbellandeeyor · Oct 10, 2015

Even though am not a parent I would not be happy if my district stopped finger printing and doing background checks, and honestly I would think any one working with kids they would want to put the kids safty first within reason

Tiffylv · Oct 10, 2015

Andtototoo · Oct 10, 2015

Teresa Pitman said:
To respond to the person saying that background checks aren't needed if the volunteer is not going to be alone with the children: the problem is that just seeing the person in the school gives the child a sense of familiarity and security. So if "Joe" is a pedophile, and he volunteers at the school but is never alone with the kids, it still increases the risk. Because when he sees that child later at a playground or perhaps walking home, he looks familiar. He reminds the child that he volunteers in the school office. And then when he offers a ride home or wants to show the child something at his house, the child is far more likely to go along with it.

Do background checks prevent all crimes against children? No, obviously not. But they can help.

In addition to the sense of familiarity issue, is the simple fact that molestation DOES occur "in public." Often they start out molesting in private and then when the "thrill" of that wears off, they have to escalate and they move on to molestation in public. So it DOES happen that a child is molested with others around. Examples: child molested by volunteer "helping" button up their coat -- while an entire classroom, teacher, and other parent volunteer were in the same room. Child molested by father in the kitchen while the rest of the family was in the dining room. Etc. The sad truth is that some perverts get off just as much on the "thrill" of danger as they do on the molestation. And every time they think they get away with it, they get more and more certain that they have a "right" to do it.

School District ends background checks for volunteers

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