Board Policy on Volunteers

The Board believes one of the greatest resources available may be found in the citizens of the community who have special knowledge and talents to contribute to the District. The use of citizens as volunteers within the school program enhances the educational process not only for students, but for the community as well. Volunteers may provide additional support in the classroom, promote community-school cooperation in facilitating the learning process and provide resource persons who have expertise in various areas.

Recruitment and selection of volunteers is done at the local building level. Interested individuals should contact the building principal or his/her designee. The interests and abilities of the volunteers are considered when making assignments. Final approval will be at the discretion of the building principals and/or Superintendent.

All volunteers shall be registered with the District office and at the appropriate building. Standard procedures for record keeping include hours contributed by various volunteers, types of
services or donations made and an application kept on file at the local school for any volunteer who works directly with students, especially in tutorial relationships.

The District notifies current and prospective volunteers who have or will have unsupervised
access to students on a regular basis that a criminal records check may be conducted at any time.

Therefore, it is the policy of the District that:

1. all persons who volunteer to assist on a seasonal or regular basis with extra-curricular activities shall be subject to the same criminal background check as is required of regular non-teaching employees of this District;

2. All volunteers who assist in the district with unsupervised access to students may be subject to the B.C.I. and F.B.I. criminal records check or other criminal records check methods approved by the Board of Education.

3. any community volunteer who is determined to have been convicted of a criminal offense which would make them ineligible to be employed in a non-teaching position with this District shall not be permitted to serve as a volunteer on a seasonal or regular basis in any extracurricular activity.

Criminal Records Check

The Board shall request from the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) criminal records checks of all candidates under final consideration for employment or appointment in the District. The BCI criminal records checks include information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), unless the individual can demonstrate that he/she has been a resident of the state for the preceding five years and has previously been subject to a BCI check, in which case only a FBI check is required. 

At the time of candidates’ initial application for employment, applicants are given a separate written statement informing them that each must provide a set of fingerprint impressions as part of the criminal records check process and that the Board uses a criminal records check as part of the initial hiring process and at various times during the employment career. The Board may employ persons on the condition that the candidate submit to and pass a BCI criminal records check in accordance with State law. Any person conditionally hired who fails to pass a BCI criminal records check is released from employment.

An applicant for employment may provide a certified copy of a BCI criminal records check to the District in compliance with State law. The District may accept this criminal records check in place of its own records check if the date of acceptance by the District is within one year after the date of issuance by the BCI.

State law requires subsequent criminal records checks every five years for all school employees except bus drivers. For currently employed bus drivers, a new report is required every six years.

Any and all information obtained by the Board or persons under this policy is confidential and shall not be released or disseminated. Criminal  records checks are not public records for purposes of the Public Records Law. Any applicant not hired because of information received from the records check shall be assured that all records pertaining to such information are destroyed.

Volunteers

The District notifies current and prospective volunteers who have or will have unsupervised
access to students on a regular basis that a criminal records check may be conducted at any time.

Contractors
Criminal records checks are required for contractors who meet the following four criteria:

1. the contractor is an employee of a private company under contract with the District to provide “essential school services”;

2. the contractor works in a position involving routine interaction with a child or regular responsibility for the care, custody or control of a child;

3. the contractor is not licensed by the Ohio Department of Education and

4. the contractor is not a bus driver.

Getting Started

1. Read the Board Policy on this page.

2. Complete the local volunteer form and return it to the Board Office.

3. To obtain your BIB Volunteer Background check at a cost of $21.95, go to BIB online:

Following the submission of your background check you can expect the following:

• The district will pre-approve the screening before it is submitted to BIB for review

• BIB will conduct the screening and return the confidential results to the district

• The district will approve/decline your request and the results will be mailed to you by BIB (typically within two weeks) along with a volunteer identification badge, if approved.