jak706;131297 wrote: Thanks for the input. I, too, think the background checks are a good idea. My only concern is that our PTO will lose volunteers if the volunteers have to pay $20 so they can work 1 hour at our annual May Fair. It's hard enough to get volunteers!

Even without the $20 fee, you'll lose volunteers if volunteers have to fill out a bunch of paperwork weeks in advance in order to help out for an hour at the spring fling.

For us "crazy people" who get really into this stuff, it seems like such a little obstacle. But if we go too far with this or put the barrier so far/too far up the food chain, then we'll definitely hurt parent involvement. And that's not a little thing either.

Let's say a dad offers to go to Sam's Club and pick up the 20 cases of water for the fair in his truck and drop it off at the food station. Does he need a background check to do that?

Tim

ask your superintendent why THEY dont run the checks at their expense, or go to a school board meeting and ask there.

many districts are absorbing the cost of these checks, why dont all?

its a matter of priroities, i am sure with enough parnet input, they would pay for this too.

or, maybe the govt needs to make these checks FREE to schools to keep our kids safe(r). wonder if anyone is lobbying for this....

Thanks for the input. I, too, think the background checks are a good idea. My only concern is that our PTO will lose volunteers if the volunteers have to pay $20 so they can work 1 hour at our annual May Fair. It's hard enough to get volunteers!

It might just boil down to a liablity issue for the district.
They would rather run the checks and be viewed as a fortress by some and do what they can to assure safety, than not do it and run the risk of a possibly preventable occurance (and have less of a defense in court).

There is NO reason a school should not run FREE sex offender checks on its parent volunteers. None whatsoever, imo.

The times are changing and so should schools keep up with the changes of society, IMO.

Here's a clomun I wrote on this back a few years ago.

www.ptotoday.com/articles/article.php?article=0903tim.html

It's obviously an importnat discussion.

Tim

If your schol doesnt run background checks on volunteers (or even if they do), yu can go to the megans law website for your state, and search by zip code for registered sex offenders and it will show names and addresses. Its free. Its a good thing to do in general, know your neighborhood.