{"id":1315924,"date":"2019-10-21T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/roaring-fork-school-board-candidates-address-background-checks-issue\/"},"modified":"2019-10-21T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T04:36:00","slug":"roaring-fork-school-board-candidates-address-background-checks-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/roaring-fork-school-board-candidates-address-background-checks-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Roaring Fork school board candidates address background checks issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Background checks for school volunteers are needed to ensure student safety, but there shouldn\u2019t be barriers to volunteering based on a person\u2019s citizenship status, candidates for the Roaring Fork District board agreed at a Monday forum.<\/p>\n

Candidates for three seats on the local school board in the Nov. 5 mail ballot election each addressed a recent question that came up regarding the district\u2019s volunteer vetting process. The exchange came during the annual Glenwood Springs Chamber\u2019s Issues and Answers Forum held at Glenwood City Hall.<\/p>\n

At issue is not the requirement for background checks, or even the use of fingerprints to obtain a full background check, said Jasmin Ramirez, a candidate in the three-way race for the board\u2019s District D seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the parents, either documented or not, want to eliminate background checks,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cThis is not about getting our fingerprints taken. \u2026 It\u2019s literally about one question that says, are you legal, or are you not here legally, and the fear that causes for our families in this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some electronic forums used for would-be volunteers to apply to have digital fingerprints taken through area law enforcement agencies ask that question, and don\u2019t allow an applicant to opt out. Paper fingerprinting is still done by some agencies, however, and the question can be optional.<\/p>\n

Ramirez said she is running for the board to represent the 55% of the Roaring Fork School District\u2019s student body that is Latino, and their families.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that any parent who wants to volunteer in the schools disagrees with proper vetting, she said, \u201cThey just want you to understand that this question limits their ability to be involved in their child\u2019s education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incumbent District D board representative Shane Larson said the board is approaching the issue with that in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike everybody else, we do not want to jeopardize the safety of children, but we also absolutely do not want to put barriers for those who want to volunteer to be in the schools,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n

Larson related his youth coaching experience and referred to a residential youth program at Colorado Mountain College where he works as examples. Both require background checks, but neither asks for fingerprints, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at background checks in general, you can get a very thorough background check without fingerprints,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n

The school board on Wednesday night will review options to revise the district\u2019s current volunteer vetting process, including a tiered approach to determining the types of volunteers who should have a broader background check using fingerprints, and which ones can go through a basic name check.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have in-sight volunteers who are never out of the sight of a teacher, and are constantly supervised,\u201d Larson said. \u201cWhen you get to the chaperone level and overnight trips, there is a different level vetting for that type of volunteering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Connerton, who is also running for the District D seat on the school board, agreed that a tiered approach can work but said the district should not compromise student safety in any way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you don\u2019t provide a fingerprint, it is not as thorough as when you do,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we can take a different approach to how we vet volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, \u201cIt\u2019s also so important to have family engagement and involvement in our district, and we don\u2019t want to set these types of barriers,\u201d Connerton said.<\/p>\n

Candidates for the District B and C seats<\/a> on the school board who are unopposed on the Nov. 5 ballot also addressed the volunteer vetting question at the Monday forum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vetting process does need to be very much in line with what we are having them do in our schools,\u201d District B candidate Natalie Torres said.<\/p>\n

Added Maureen Stepp, who is running for the District C seat, \u201cSchool safety should be a primary concern of the school district and the school board \u2026 but I also understand that we have members of our community for whom that poses a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to discourage people from volunteering in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school board candidates will meet again in a second forum this week, taking place at 5:30 Wednesday at Bridges High School in Carbondale, and sponsored by the Roaring Fork Community Education Association and the school district.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background checks for school volunteers are needed to ensure student safety, but there shouldn\u2019t be barriers to volunteering based on a person\u2019s citizenship status, candidates for the Roaring Fork District board agreed at a Monday forum. Candidates for three seats on the local school board in the Nov. 5 mail ballot election each addressed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 17:03:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}