I resigned from a community board over the decision to require these sort of background checks. Maybe this one is different and more limited. But often, these background checks are nothing but overbroad invasions of privacy. Sex offender lists are already matters of public record, and could be readily checked by existing staff at no cost. Fingerprinting and criminal background checks have the potential to turn up decades old, wholly irrelevant, and potentially embarrassing information. Why would it matter that a parent wrote a bad check back in college 15 years ago? And why should that be of any interest to the safety of children in a classroom.
Furthermore, there is not one shred of evidence that performing such background checks has ever protected a child from any kind of harm. Background checks are useless against those who have not be caught and/or convicted of an offense. Offenses that actually take place in a school are extraordinarily rare, and even then are most frequently committed by school staff if they do happen. And if the school is following best practices, volunteers aren't left alone with children in the classroom anyway.
All these background check policies accomplish is:
1) Create a false sense of security among those who believe that because of background checks, their child is safe from predators.
2) Impose inconvenience and potential embarrassment on people who are already giving generously of their time and effort
3) Exclude from participation individuals who have no relevant offenses in their past, but would prefer not to share with school administration that time 20 years ago when they got caught smoking a joint outside a Jimmy Buffett show.
