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I don't know, maybe because a 15 year old conviction for something irrelevant to kids shouldn't prevent them from doing a good thing?
My husband has a very old conviction for carrying a concealed deadly weapon. He got stopped many years ago in Hollywood with a small pocket knife with a flip blade, apparently against the law. He's a carpenter and always carries a pocket knife. You think that's a good reason to exclude him?
Also, just telling teachers that someone failed a background check runs the risk of completely besmirching someone's reputation. If they've been convicted then they've paid whatever price.
As to sex offenders, there's a separate registry for them.
If he needs the knife as a carpenter, which I doubt, was he doing carpentry in Hollywood? Why would he carry it at other times? I think a person that carries a knife should be disqualified.
According to you, the paperwork alone is a nightmare, and therefore you have no - or rare - parent volunteers in your classroom.
I will go through AGAIN.
Maintaining different tiers or levels of volunteer approvals is a nightmare, as evidenced by links and quotes I provided from multiple districts. My school (the one I teach in) does not do different tiers or levels, our parents either pass or do not. We are a high school, maybe your schools utilize volunteers in high school classrooms but they are basically unheard of here. BECAUSE IT IS NOT ALLOWED. We, as a district, chose not to utilize parent volunteers. Honestly, parental involvement in the high school classroom is not necessary, vital at home, pointless in the classroom. Not that we want them and they are not there. Get it yet?
When we do field trips (and we do far more than a traditional school) we have more chaperones who volunteer than we can ever use. Most trips we have to do a lottery system to keep it fair. Our PTSA, is amazing, they run so many fundraisers, and have so many volunteers at those events it is astounding. Lucky for us, our parents are willing to volunteer where they are useful as opposed to demanding to be allowed to volunteer where ever they want.
Quote:
So if you don't have them when you've parents around the block, because it's a paperwork nightmare for your administrators, what makes you think parents in neighborhoods that are at war with the police are going to waltz over to the local station and get fingerprinted?
First, in most states, people do not get fingerprinted by the police, it is a private, third party company. Second, ok, if this is obvious, please provide any link showing that these guidelines have lowered the rate of volunteerism in those schools. Your actually proposing that this will reduce the number of volunteers.
Lets see. Boston, a large, urban, lower SES (compared to suburbs) school district. Has mandatory criminal background checks AND has a higher school volunteerism rate than the national average.
Some 25,000 volunteers in the schools despite being background checked.
IBKO714-
I haven't read this entire thread- but did you say you carry some sort of knife with you?
In our district carrying any type of knife is automatic expulsion. It could be a plastic knife. No one is allowed to have one- (maybe the cafeteria and maintenance people). But teachers, students etc. are not allowed to carry a knife.
Two years ago a senior had car trouble. Brother was home from college for spring break- so she took his car- he had a sword on the backseat. Guess what- a staff member saw it and she was expelled. How rediculous was that? She didn't even know it was in the backseat.
Our school has an exemption due to two unique characteristics part of our program. I cannot go into more detail without identifying the school. We have a bunch of weird requirements, including requiring freshman to pass a swimming test.
It is funny you mention swords, we arm our students, the "good" ones, with swords. When we were displaced during the hurricane, and had to have one of those mandated safety drills, the new first responders were completely freaked out by the swords.
I agree, in a typical school, knives, even pocket knives should not be allowed.
I can't believe that some people think there should be different lists for who can volunteer doing what. One keeps saying they don't mean field trips. That means different lists. One for field trips. One for those around children. One for those not around children. One for those around children with the teacher present. Etc.
If you fail your out. Keep it simple, or would you like to pay for a person to decide what crimes and how long ago shouldn't count.
If he needs the knife as a carpenter, which I doubt, was he doing carpentry in Hollywood? Why would he carry it at other times? I think a person that carries a knife should be disqualified.
Um, yes he lived in Hollywood. We both lived there. Why wouldn't you do carpentry in Hollywood?
Maintaining different tiers or levels of volunteer approvals is a nightmare, as evidenced by links and quotes I provided from multiple districts. My school (the one I teach in) does not do different tiers or levels, our parents either pass or do not. We are a high school, maybe your schools utilize volunteers in high school classrooms but they are basically unheard of here. BECAUSE IT IS NOT ALLOWED. We, as a district, chose not to utilize parent volunteers. Honestly, parental involvement in the high school classroom is not necessary, vital at home, pointless in the classroom. Not that we want them and they are not there. Get it yet?
When we do field trips (and we do far more than a traditional school) we have more chaperones who volunteer than we can ever use. Most trips we have to do a lottery system to keep it fair. Our PTSA, is amazing, they run so many fundraisers, and have so many volunteers at those events it is astounding. Lucky for us, our parents are willing to volunteer where they are useful as opposed to demanding to be allowed to volunteer where ever they want.
First, in most states, people do not get fingerprinted by the police, it is a private, third party company. Second, ok, if this is obvious, please provide any link showing that these guidelines have lowered the rate of volunteerism in those schools. Your actually proposing that this will reduce the number of volunteers.
Lets see. Boston, a large, urban, lower SES (compared to suburbs) school district. Has mandatory criminal background checks AND has a higher school volunteerism rate than the national average.
Some 25,000 volunteers in the schools despite being background checked.
Boston proper has a "lower SES compared to the Boston suburbs". Oh ffs, lol.
We don't have LUNCH AIDES OR SECRETARIES THIS YEAR.
Your school for budding astronauts or whatever it is is a laughable comparison to the reality of neighborhood public schools in some big cities.
So by all means put all those volunteers you DON'T need through the background check wringer, and leave people like my husband (if you got your way) out of a school district that desperately needs all the friggin help it can get.
Looking beyond just volunteers, I have worked for a school (private) that has hired educators with certain convictions on their records...when these people were upfront about them in the hiring process. They've also declined to hire people who failed to disclose, where it then popped up on the background check.
Looking beyond just volunteers, I have worked for a school (private) that has hired educators with certain convictions on their records...when these people were upfront about them in the hiring process. They've also declined to hire people who failed to disclose, where it then popped up on the background check.
In many states that would be illegal for most felonies.
Um, yes he lived in Hollywood. We both lived there. Why wouldn't you do carpentry in Hollywood?
You don't even understand the question.
Was he working as a carpenter at the time he was arrested? Was he arrested for possession of the knife while working or was he carrying it away from the job?
Was he working as a carpenter at the time he was arrested? Was he arrested for possession of the knife while working or was he carrying it away from the job?
I understood the question. I've already answered that he was carrying the knife in his pocket walking down the street in the early hours. In Hollywood. Where he lived. And where people do carpentry.
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