Anonymous wrote:If a parent is a federal or state employee or contractor, then they shouldn't have to do this. They need to make an exception for us who are already checked.

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Anonymous wrote:So…what findings are they going to be looking for? DUIs? Hit and runs? Larceny? It seems like the item most relevant to a school setting would be the sex offenders list, which they already check with the license. What am I missing here????

There is a mother at my children's elementary school who does not have custody or visitation of her children and uses volunteering work as her way of seeing her kids. She doesn't actually do the volunteer work she's supposed to do. I hope psychos like her are kept out. I don't know if she has a criminal record or not but assume there is something that a background check might pick up.

Anonymous wrote:So…what findings are they going to be looking for? DUIs? Hit and runs? Larceny? It seems like the item most relevant to a school setting would be the sex offenders list, which they already check with the license. What am I missing here????

Anonymous wrote:I think the scan of the drivers license at the kiosk already checks names against something? A sex offenders list maybe? Are they looking for something else specific with the background check and fingerprints?

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a good idea. Not all parents are safe.

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Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

I disagree. The level that requires fingerprinting is for 2 or more instances of volunteering in a school year. A lot of people who are infrequent volunteers but do like to help a little aren’t going to make the time to drive over to Gatehouse for fingerprinting just so they can volunteer twice. Plus, that level states that an FCPS staff member must always be present during the volunteer’s involvement. If that’s the expectation, then why the need for such a stringent background check? I’m sure is well intentioned, but it’s not at all well thought out.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.

Making copies and stuffing folders doesn’t have direct contact with students. That’s level 1.

Level 2 definition doesn’t say anything about the contact, just about the number of times. I hope FCPS will bring clarity to this..

Exactly, it just says on the application less than 2 or 3 times. Which is it? 2 or 3? lol

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Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

I disagree. The level that requires fingerprinting is for 2 or more instances of volunteering in a school year. A lot of people who are infrequent volunteers but do like to help a little aren’t going to make the time to drive over to Gatehouse for fingerprinting just so they can volunteer twice. Plus, that level states that an FCPS staff member must always be present during the volunteer’s involvement. If that’s the expectation, then why the need for such a stringent background check? I’m sure is well intentioned, but it’s not at all well thought out.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.

Making copies and stuffing folders doesn’t have direct contact with students. That’s level 1.

Level 2 definition doesn’t say anything about the contact, just about the number of times. I hope FCPS will bring clarity to this..

Anonymous wrote:What are you talking about? Have there been many arrests of parent volunteers?

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Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

I disagree. The level that requires fingerprinting is for 2 or more instances of volunteering in a school year. A lot of people who are infrequent volunteers but do like to help a little aren’t going to make the time to drive over to Gatehouse for fingerprinting just so they can volunteer twice. Plus, that level states that an FCPS staff member must always be present during the volunteer’s involvement. If that’s the expectation, then why the need for such a stringent background check? I’m sure is well intentioned, but it’s not at all well thought out.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.

Making copies and stuffing folders doesn’t have direct contact with students. That’s level 1.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

I disagree. The level that requires fingerprinting is for 2 or more instances of volunteering in a school year. A lot of people who are infrequent volunteers but do like to help a little aren’t going to make the time to drive over to Gatehouse for fingerprinting just so they can volunteer twice. Plus, that level states that an FCPS staff member must always be present during the volunteer’s involvement. If that’s the expectation, then why the need for such a stringent background check? I’m sure is well intentioned, but it’s not at all well thought out.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.