Within the next two months those interested in volunteering for Dalton Public Schools will see a major reshaping of the process and procedures, said Superintendent Steven Craft.
During the Dalton Board of Education’s meeting this week Craft and Associate Superintendent of Student Services Robert Shaw detailed updates to a new volunteer procedures plan.
Craft said for years the volunteering application process within the system has been “very general” and on a “school-by-school” basis.
“This new plan lines up with our safety and security,” he said. “This was a focus for us when we started looking at (the current process) and realized there was a gap in our policy that we needed to observe. We just didn’t have a formal process, so we wanted to fix that. Our volunteer process was just not defined well enough for us.”
Craft said working with Shaw, Director of Safety and Security Jeff Wells and other system officials they have plan to roll out a new volunteer application website on Dec. 2 while communicating the expanded process for applying to volunteer in the future.
“We have always done background checks for people that are going to be around our students, but we needed to implement a formal (procedure) based off of the levels of volunteers.”
Those volunteer levels, Shaw said, will include Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.
“They’re based on how much potential access a person volunteering will have with a student,” he said. “Level 1 is your classroom readers, high school student mentors or Career Day speakers. They’re going to be in the building all day with personnel present at all times.”
Shaw said Level 2 volunteers are those with more student involvement, including one-day field trip chaperones, classroom helpers and retired educators supervising students.
Level 3 volunteers include individuals accompanying students on overnight field trips or those who may have “more access to students,” he said.
Shaw said volunteers for each level must fill out a release and application form and complete confidentiality and mandated reporter training.
“They will have to show a state-issued photo identification,” he said. “And we check who they are in the Georgia Sex Offender Registry and the (National) Sex Offender Registry. If you are a registered sex offender, under all levels, you cannot volunteer in our schools.”
For Level 2 volunteers, Shaw said the same application process will apply with the potential volunteer also needing to “check in” to the Georgia Crime Information Center database for a Georgia criminal background check.
“That will cost $13,” Shaw said.
Level 3 volunteers will need to complete two additional measures, including a full federal and state criminal background check, a $51 cost and Cogent Systems Inc. fingerprinting on file with the system’s human resources department.
“One of the questions often is who is paying for this,” Shaw said. “That is paid for by the volunteer who is filling out the application. With that being said, schools, booster clubs and (Parent Teacher Organizations) can help, so, while the district is not going to pay that cost, we certainly want to work with folks who are volunteering to help them as much as we can.”
Shaw said while meeting with system principals several concerns about volunteering were addressed, including reduced volunteer availability, increased administrative burden, limited flexibility of volunteers, privacy concerns and application process length.
“How do we address that?” Shaw said. “The process is certainly in alignment with our neighboring (school) districts. (The entire application) will be hosted online with a very clear communication plan and a clear workflow of the application process.”
Shaw said he is often told about concerns that the new application process would affect every parent or non-employee wanting to visit a school.
“(Would they) need to complete some level of our volunteering procedures? The answer is no,” he said. “We still want our parents and visitors to come to school meetings, conferences, and to have lunch with their kids. This does not apply there. We want them to still participate going to a school-wide program, pep rally or presentation. We want them to continue to do that without filling (the new volunteer application) out. This is strictly for volunteers.”
Shaw said he hopes the new process and website will result in more consistency and accessibility.
“We’re hoping what comes from this will be one list that principals and administrators can access to see who’s approved to volunteer,” he said. “The website will have a ‘Click Here to Volunteer’ button and we will include frequently asked questions as they come up.”
Craft said the website and information regarding the new procedures will be available in English and Spanish.
Shaw said the application will not take long to complete once available in December.
“What will take a few days to turn around is the requisite background checks and fingerprints,” he said. “(That will take) at least three to five days, longer if you hit a weekend or holiday. One of the things we do have to communicate is we can’t get this turned around overnight.”
Shaw said the ultimate goal for reworking the volunteering process and procedures is to ensure student and staff safety, and create consistency across all schools.
Craft said system officials do not want to create a potential “barrier” for parents and community members.
“We just want to make sure we know who is around our kids at all times,” he said. “We want our parents to come for lunch, we want our parents to come to the events we’re having at the schools. We just want to make sure that this is what we’re doing for safety and security.”