Volunteers in Williamson County Schools
April 15, 2010
Questions and Answers
Why do our volunteers
need background checks?
One of our main priorities is to
keep children safe. Before these guidelines and
procedures were implemented in March, anyone could
walk into any of our buildings, offer to volunteer,
and could be left alone with a child. We surveyed
other Tennessee districts similar to Williamson
County and discovered that all of them, except for
WCS and one other, required background checks of
their volunteers.
Who made this decision?
Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney and
staff made the decision. The Volunteer Guidelines
and Procedures document is an administrative
procedure. It is not a School Board policy.
Will this move deter
people from volunteering?
We have created a three-tiered
guideline to protect children and to continue to
maintain the high levels of volunteerism that we
enjoy in our district. The new guidelines will not
affect all volunteers. Samples of the three tiers
include:
-
Tier 1-Someone who volunteers occasionally and
in a highly public setting with little or no
contact with students and who are under constant
supervision by Williamson County Schools
personnel will not be required to complete a
volunteer application or a criminal background
check. A volunteer fitting this example might
be someone working at a school field day or
fundraising event or someone working in the
concession stand or making an occasional
classroom visit.
-
Tier 2-Regular volunteers with student
contact under constant supervision of Williamson
County personnel must complete a volunteer
application and a confidentiality agreement
acknowledging FERPA (student confidentiality)
requirements. A volunteer fitting this example
might include a room parent, class readers,
front door reception, front office volunteers
and single day field trip chaperones at the
middle and high school level where it is assured
that students will always be supervised by a
Williamson County school employee.
-
Tier 3-Volunteers who have unsupervised
contact with students on or off campus
will be required to complete a
volunteer application and confidentiality
agreement and have a criminal background
fingerprint check (form)
through the Williamson County Schools Human
Resources Department. The fee for the
background check will be paid by the volunteer
or the PTO or booster club. A volunteer fitting
this example would be someone providing
one-on-one tutoring, an overnight field trip
chaperone or a single day field trip chaperone
where there is no direct supervision by a
Williamson County school employee. All
elementary field trips are considered Tier 3.
Since there are three tiers of
volunteers, there are many opportunities for
volunteers to work in our schools even if they do
not want to go through the background check process.
The background check is only for volunteers who will
be working with children in an unsupervised setting.
What type of background
check is the district conducting?
TBI/FBI nationwide criminal
background check through the National Crime
Information Center, NCIC.
When does this take
effect?
Dr. Looney has asked school
principals to implement the procedure in the current
year, based on the schedule of that school’s
activities.
Could the district use a
background check that was done by my church, another
agency or employer?
Possibly. You should contact your
church, employer or agency to get a copy and then
bring the copy of the background check (NCIC rap
sheet) to the
Human Resources Department at the Central Office,
1320 West Main Street, Suite 202, Franklin. They
will determine if your background check is
appropriate.
How do I get the
volunteer approval process started?
If you plan to volunteer at the Tier
1 level, you don’t need to complete any paperwork.
If you plan to volunteer at the Tier
2 or Tier 3 levels, you must complete a volunteer
form. It is available in your school’s office, at
the district office or on the district website,
www.wcs.edu. You will need to return the completed
information to your school’s office where an
employee will make a copy of your driver’s license
and valid picture id. Tier 2 volunteer forms must be
completed annually and at school where the person is
volunteering.
If you want to volunteer at the Tier
3 level, you must also complete the fingerprint
background check process. You may pick up a
fingerprint application form from your school, the
district office or on the district website,
www.wcs.edu, and return it to the WCS Human
Resources Department. An HR employee will contact
you when your paperwork has been received. You will
then visit a fingerprint location to complete the
process. A report will be returned to Williamson
County Schools Human Resources Department. The
fingerprint check is a one-time check even if your
child transitions to a new school, unless there is
just cause.
How much does it cost?
Initially, the cost was $48, but the
company contracting with the State to provide the
service, Cogent, has reduced its charge to $40.
What if I already paid
$48?
If you already paid $48 to qualify
as a Tier 3 volunteer under the new procedure,
Williamson County Schools will reimburse you $8. You
must notify your school principal by Friday, April
30, 2010. You will then receive a check for $8 in
the mail by Friday, May 28, 2010.
Where do you go to get a
fingerprint check?
ü
The UPS Store, 5016 Spedale Court, Spring Hill, 615
302-3910, with hours M-F 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sat. 9
a.m.-2 p.m.
ü
Academy of Personal Protection & Security, 336 Hill
Avenue, Suite 102, Nashville, 615 360-6002, with
hours M, W, F 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and T, Th 8 a.m.-6
p.m.
ü
Metro Nashville Public Schools, 2601 Bransford
Avenue, Nashville, with hours 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m
Why are checks made
payable to WCS, not the contractor or the TBI?
WCS has been authorized to initiate
a criminal background search. WCS pays this bill.
The $40 charge is the fee charged to WCS.
Who determines if someone is “cleared” to volunteer
and how will the schools know?
The WCS Human Resources Department will receive the
reports from the background checks and forward them
to Dr. Looney if a report reveals any criminal
history. Dr. Looney will evaluate the report based
on the standards in paragraph B of the procedure
http://www.wcs.edu/district/boardpolicy/sect4/4501p.pdf.
The Human Resources Department will be compiling a
list of Tier 3 volunteers that will be shared with
the schools. Individual schools will keep a separate
list of Tier 2 volunteers at the school site.
Do I have to get a
fingerprint check every year?
We have structured the Tier 3 check
as a one-time check that will clear the volunteer
from that point forward, with the caveat that each
volunteer is responsible for reporting any
subsequent events. The fingerprint check is a
one-time check even if your child transitions to a
new school, unless there is just cause.
Is fingerprinting truly
necessary or would a background check be a
sufficient place to start?
A fingerprinting background check
will reveal any criminal history that is in the
National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database
that is maintained by the FBI. This is the same
check that is required of employees and contractor,
and this is the information that has been
established through appropriate legal due process
and can be relied on for accuracy. Also, this is the
information that is relevant to us for volunteer
work where the volunteer might be one-on-one with
children. We have not found any other reliable
criminal background check.
Who is maintaining the records?
The WCS Human Resources Department.
What privacy safeguards are in place? Who will be
privy to the information?
WCS will maintain these reports. Social security
numbers will be safeguarded and will not be included
on information that is shared with the schools.
However, the information obtained from these
searches includes public records from across the
nation. Because of this, WCS cannot guarantee that
the information is confidential. If an individual is
concerned that a criminal background check will
reveal something that they do not want disclosed,
they should not volunteer for the Tier 3 work
described in the procedure. WCS will not disclose
this to any member of the public unless required by
law to do so, but Tennessee law does require
disclosure of most government records to members of
the public upon written request.
Can one who is denied appeal a decision?
There will be no appeal procedure since there is no
legal right to volunteer; the schools can always
refuse volunteer work absent discrimination on the
basis of race, color, religion, national origin,
age, sex or disability. However, the prospective
volunteer can certainly talk with the Principal or
Superintendent if the prospective volunteer has any
questions.
Must a parent driving students to an event, where
bus transportation is not provided, be
fingerprinted?
Under Williamson County Government’s
standards, if the schools are not transporting
students to an event, parents must arrange for their
child’s transportation. Those arrangements are made
entirely outside the fingerprinting procedure since
the schools do not make these arrangements.
