SCHOOL BOARD CONTINUES
TO QUESTION VOLUNTEER BACKGROUND POLICY
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By CANDY BROOKS |
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More than 800 school district
volunteers have undergone background checks this month, but that does not mean
all of them are comfortable with the process.
And there are still questions about who
else needs to be checked before they can work with students, Worthington Board
of Education members said on Monday.
With that in mind, the board tabled the
new policy requiring that all volunteers who have unsupervised contact with
students undergo the free background checks being provided by the district.
Board member Jennifer Best wants the
policy to clarify exactly who must undergo checks, especially in regards to
volunteers for
She has received several questions from
those groups who are concerned that one-time volunteers who help out driving
students on patron drives or other occasional activities must be checked out
first.
"Some groups are worried that, if
that happens, they won't have the volunteers they need," Best said.
Secondary education director Scot Prebles
is to meet with high school principals later this week to discuss that
situation.
Best said she wanted to hear the outcome
of that discussion, and perhaps amend the policy to reflect their decisions.
She and board member David Bressman also
said they have heard from volunteers who are concerned about confidentiality.
Personal information that includes social
security numbers must be provided to the school district
personnel office, which in some cases forwards that information to a private
company that does background checks.
"There seems to be some parent
concern, are we doing everything we can to avoid identity theft," Best
said.
The new policy ensures confidentiality of
all information gathered through the process.
According to district
personnel director Jeanne Paliotto, her department processes sensitive and
confidential information about employees on a daily basis. Employees who fail
to protect confidential information are subject to discipline up to and
including termination, she stated in an e-mail to Bressman.
"My office protects private
information every day," she said on Monday.
To concerns that the private company,
Intellicorp, might share confidential data, Paliotto said that the company's
Web site contains a section on privacy and security of information.
The information is not subject to open
records laws because volunteers are not public employees, according to
Paliotto.
Also on Monday, the board learned that
administrators are considering increasing the cost to students for attending
summer school.
Prices would increase $20 for high school
classes, which currently are $180 for district students, $210 for
out-of-district; and $10 for elementary classes, which are $105
for district students, $135 for out-of-district
students.
Enrollment in summer school has decreased
steadily since 2000, dropping from 3,182 that year to 1,926 this past summer.
That has resulted in lower receipts, despite
efforts to cut costs by increasing class sizes, decreasing the number of days
and hours of classes, and increasing fees in 2003, said summer school director
Ron Porta.
"We've cut as many things as we
could cut and still run a quality program," he said.
The program lost $19,353 in 2005. It came
out $6,094 in the black in 2004, and $3,410 in the black in 2003.
Until 1997, the board covered the cost of
summer school. About three years later, it decided the program should be
self-supporting.
Even with the proposed increase,