{"id":1316072,"date":"2019-10-24T19:12:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T01:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=990077"},"modified":"2019-10-25T09:21:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T15:21:13","slug":"roaring-fork-board-oks-updated-school-volunteer-vetting-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/roaring-fork-board-oks-updated-school-volunteer-vetting-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Roaring Fork board OKs updated school volunteer vetting policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A parent speaks before the Roaring Fork School Board regarding a volunteer policy change that was on the table Wednesday in Carbondale.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A new policy for school volunteers that\u2019s pending final approval by the Roaring Fork School District board would allow more flexibility to permit in-classroom visits without a full background check.<\/p>\n

However, the policy \u2014 approved on first reading by the school board in Carbondale Wednesday night \u2014 also tightens the rules for any volunteers who would be working with students in an unsupervised capacity.<\/p>\n

And, it specifically outlines the types of previous criminal offenses that would strictly prohibit a person from volunteering in any capacity in the schools. Namely, that would include any crime of violence or sex crime of any sort, according to the new policy.<\/p>\n

The policy change \u2014 subject to a final reading before the school board in November \u2014 comes in response to concerns raised by some parent volunteers in Valley Settlement\u2019s Parent Mentor Program about a citizenship question that is asked when applicants undergo fingerprinting for a federal background check.<\/p>\n

The policy addresses that issue by not specifically requiring fingerprinting as the method for obtaining a background check.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest concern is about the potential sense of hostility that fingerprinting \u2014 and the question about immigration status that\u2019s part of that process \u2014 can create on families with diverse immigration statuses,\u201d Sophia Clark, representing Sanctuary Unidos, said at the meeting in favor of the policy change.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Families feeling that they can\u2019t participate in the schools is going to create a much-less-safe environment than having all families feeling welcomed and valued,\u201d Clark continued. \u201cThe Potential social and economic impacts of that are tremendous.\u201d <\/p>\n

The revised policy states: \u201cAny volunteer who will be in schools or associated with any school program must complete a criminal background check prior to working in an unsupervised capacity with students and\/or before participating in an overnight field trip. Volunteers who have not passed a criminal background check may not be alone \u2014 without a district employee \u2014 with students other than their own children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new language is more strict in that it removes a reference to limiting background checks to people volunteering four or more times during a school year. However, it also takes out a reference that\u2019s in the current 12-year-old policy that requires all volunteers to submit fingerprints.<\/p>\n

All volunteers who would work in an unsupervised capacity with students are still to be vetted through a criminal background check. But the policy doesn\u2019t specify that process for doing that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis allows for flexibility as technologies and procedures evolve, and avoids committing to any particular process that might have undesirable side effects,\u201d according to a staff memo prepared for the school board\u2019s consideration at the Wednesday meeting.<\/p>\n

Several volunteers in the Parent Mentor program and district teachers who make use of those volunteers in their classrooms spoke to the benefits of the program. They also urged the board to approve the volunteer policy change to remove the citizenship concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cPadres Mentores has brought life to our school in so many ways,\u201d said Jamie Nims, the principal at the charter Two Rivers Community School who also has two children attending Crystal River Elementary School in Carbondale, and whose wife works at the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program is important in supporting students in the classroom,\u201d Nims said. \u201cAs a parent, I want my children to have that experience \u2026 and I would ask that you lift the restrictions that I think are unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

School board members unanimously agreed to the policy change in a 4-0 vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a great middle-ground we\u2019ve found to keep our kids safe, while allowing for parent volunteers,\u201d board member Jenny Scherer said.<\/p>\n

Added board member Shane Larson, \u201cThis gives us flexibility to make sure students are safe through some kind of background check. The more volunteers and the more adults we have in our schools, the better the environment overall.\u201d <\/p>\n

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

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

A parent speaks before the Roaring Fork School Board regarding a volunteer policy change that was on the table Wednesday in Carbondale.John Stroud\/Post Independent A new policy for school volunteers that\u2019s pending final approval by the Roaring Fork School District board would allow more flexibility to permit in-classroom visits without a full background check. However, […]<\/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-1316072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 16:26:42","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\/1316072","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=1316072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316092,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316072\/revisions\/1316092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}