New requirements include background, health, and criminal clearances
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
CALN – The Coatesville Area School Board will look into its volunteer policies as per a Community Student Relations Committee vote from Tuesday night.
Tuesday night’s vote will bring new policies regarding background and health checks before the full board at this month’s meeting. The policies proposed will require community members who volunteer in schools to be screen through the district’s Raptor system. Volunteers for single day field trips will be required to submit an Act 151 Child Abuse Clearance.
Program volunteers and overnight chaperones will be required to submit an Act 34 Criminal History Report, Act 151 Child Abuse Clearance Statement, and undergo a PPD skin test for tuberculosis.
In related news, volunteer sports coaches will also have new requirements including Act 34 Background Checks, Act 151 Child Abuse Clearances, and an Acct 114 Federal Criminal History Background Check. Coaches must also hold certificates of completion for cardiac arrest prevention and concussion management. Coaches must also get approval from the school board. All expenses for these clearances will be the responsibility of the volunteer.
Also at the Student and Community Relations meeting, the district announced that it is vetting a contract with Language Line Solutions to provide translation services for parent-teacher meetings. Entering the contract will allow the district to have translators on call and allow parents to schedule meetings with translators present. Currently, the district has staff to translate for parents, but using district staff members to translate forces them to drop what they are doing to provide the services.
