Eight Hillsboro School District schools will background check all volunteers under test program | OregonLive.com

Eight Hillsboro School District schools will background check all volunteers under test program | OregonLive.com

Eight Hillsboro School District schools will background check all volunteers under test program

By Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

April 10, 2010, 4:00AM

View full sizeBENJAMIN BRINK/The OregonianParent Robin Olafson is among the roughly dozen volunteers who help out daily Indian Hills Elementary in Hillsboro. Starting in mid-April, Hillsboro School District is testing a program that requires parent volunteers to have statewide criminal records checks. Olafson helps kindergartners Kylee Green (right) and Parker Kelson.HILLSBORO -- By the end of this school year, more volunteers will have passed through Hillsboro schools than employees.

The 2,400 teachers, secretaries, custodians and administrators have had their fingerprints taken and names checked for arrests and criminal convictions; most of the thousands of classroom volunteers and event chaperones have not.

They simply sign in at the main office, get a badge and visit a classroom to assist a teacher. Or they stop by after school to help load band instruments or hop on a bus to chaperone the drill team.

But that will change in mid-April at eight district schools, as they test a program to background check all volunteers -- from grandmas to Intel engineers.

The basic records check will not require fingerprints, but it will require a date of birth and either a Social Security number or an identification number. If it works, the district plans to expand the program to all 33 schools in the fall.

Schools are joining a growing number of organizations that check the backgrounds of their volunteers. Beaverton and Tigard-Tualatin school districts have had districtwide programs in place for at least two years.