The deadline to submit feedback on a proposed School District 27 change to their policy regarding volunteers is fast approaching.
The new policy defines when a criminal record check would be required for volunteers.
The proposed policy would make it a requirement that volunteers with potential for unsupervised access to children pass a criminal records check.
This could apply to parents, coaches and other community volunteers in the schools.
The deadline to submit feedback is June 21, however, the School District notes that that members of the public, staff or students may request changes to Board policy at any time.
The proposed Volunteers in Schools policy draft adds that ” ‘working with children,’ means, as per the Criminal Records Review Act, working with children directly or having or potentially having unsupervised access to children during the course of an education program, or while providing services as a volunteer.
“If it is deemed that a volunteer is working with children, a criminal record check will be required.”
The previous policy simply stated that “if it is deemed appropriate, a reference check and/or a criminal records search may be required by the principal.”
However, as Superintendent Mark Wintjes notes, it isn’t necessarily what will end up as the final policy.
“What we are looking for at the moment is, reading it through, if there are things you don’t like, let us know. If there are things we should add in — any feedback whatsoever we review and put a lens on from a policy perspective.”
The proposed change is part of a cyclical policy review the board has undertaken to make sure SD27 policies are updated.
“We want to fine tune when a criminal record check is really required so we’re not putting a burden on parents and yet we still need to protect children.”
The request for input was first put out at the May 30 School Board meeting.
People looking to submit feedback can send it directly to Executive Assistant Connee Newberry at connee.newberry@sd27.bc.ca or by calling the School District at 250-398-3833.