GEORGE! another use for SSNs

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0206180164jun18.story

Schools embrace parents' help--after background check

By Tracy Dell'Angela
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 18, 2002

Julietta Bolivar, a volunteer at her children's school in Chicago, felt uncomfortable when told she had to complete a criminal background check if she wanted to continue chaperoning field trips, serving lunch and helping with homework.

A mother of three, Bolivar had nothing to hide--she just didn't see the point of investigating a parent well known to staff and eager to help out.

That skepticism evaporated the day another well-liked parent admitted to her that he could not volunteer at the school because the background check would reveal his sex-abuse conviction. "Now I think it's a very good idea," she said. "They should check every single person who is going to be around the school. I want to know who is there with my kids."

Until recently, many school districts were reluctant to screen volunteers, in part because of the logistical and financial burdens, but also because officials didn't want to do anything to discourage parent involvement.

But as safety concerns make such checks routine for a growing number of volunteers--from baseball coaches to Sunday school teachers--school leaders have been tightening their security as well, asking for visitor badges, detailed volunteer applications or background checks.

Last year the Illinois State Police completed about 136,000 criminal history checks for school districts statewide, which includes school employees and volunteers, said a spokesman.

Although many districts are finding parents less resistant to what was once a controversial request, asking people to disclose sensitive information can be a delicate proposition with parent volunteers.

"School officials try to serve both goals by being open and welcoming environments, but by the same token [doing] anything they can do to avoid disaster," said Edwin Darden, a senior attorney for the National School Boards Association. "Part of the issue is the conditioning that parents have gotten used to ... being able to come in and out of the schools at will."

Social Security numbers

For Lori and John Lipke, the breaking point was when officials last fall asked them to write their Social Security numbers on a new form required of all parents and volunteers who want to visit the two schools in Cass School District 63.

When they refused, Lori Lipke, a room parent in her son's grade school in Darien, was barred from volunteering. She couldn't plan parties, sell sandwiches, bring brownies or chaperon field trips. Her husband wasn't allowed past the front office.

Lori Lipke said she left her Social Security number off the form because the number had been misused years ago by someone who stole her wallet and identity.

"If it was something I thought they needed for security reasons, I'd do it in a minute," she said. "But they don't need a Social Security number to do a background check. And they don't do anything with the information."

Cass' policy requires anyone who visits the schools during school hours to provide background information, including personal data and a list of previous volunteer experience, and to answer a question about whether the volunteer has been convicted of any sex, drug or child-abuse crimes.

The district does not submit the form to police officials or run a criminal background check. Rather, the forms are stored "in a confidential file" in the district offices.

The policy was enacted to ensure "more secure ways to be accountable for who's in your building," said Cass School Board President Suzanne Crofts.

Ultimately, the Lipkes had to send their fingerprints to the FBI for an extensive criminal background check before they were permitted back into the school, three months later.

"We shouldn't have to go through this, but I did it because I thought it would be worth making the point," John Lipke said. "I never thought it would turn into such a fiasco. This isn't making the school any safer. They are just discouraging parents from volunteering."

Few parents complain

Crofts said that of the 318 parents who filled out the forms, only four refused to provide Social Security numbers. "This was the way our district chose to do it," Crofts said. "It's not my concern what other school districts are doing. It's my concern to keep our children safe."

The Chicago Public Schools started screening volunteers in 1997. This school year, police ran the names of about 4,300 local school council members, mentors and parents who work directly with pupils, said Neil O'Connell, safety and security manager of the Chicago schools.

Few Chicago parents complain about the screening because many of the district's volunteers are paid a stipend for helping out, officials said.

But parent advocates say the screening does discourage some parents from stepping up because they view the checks as intrusive and embarrassing.

"It's kind of off-putting. You have to go through this checklist of abominable crimes against children," said Julie Woestehoff, a longtime Chicago school volunteer and now executive director of an advocacy group called Parents United for Responsible Education.

"There's a lot of confusion about it. And I don't know that it has actually screened anyone out. My feeling is that it has a lot more to do with protecting school districts from liability."

And it's hard to find a pattern from district to district.

Berkeley School District 87 was one of the first districts in the state to propose stringent screening for volunteers--including criminal checks and drug screening--but the 1993 proposal was never enacted. The district's six schools now screen only the handful of parent volunteers who work with kids one on one, the superintendent said.

Prospect Heights District 23 started asking its regular parent volunteers to submit to background checks about three years ago.

Naperville District 203, where more than 1,000 volunteers help out at the district's 21 schools, has never considered background checks for its volunteers, in part because most are parents or senior citizens well known in the district, said Supt. Don Weber.

Volunteer advocates say many parents are willing to sacrifice their privacy if a school's security efforts are reasoned and well communicated.

"It's a growing factor for volunteers and a reflection of what's going on in society," said Tim Sullivan, publisher of PTO Today, a magazine sent to about 80,000 parent volunteers.

"There's nobody who wants to protect kids more than their parents. Good-faith efforts are going to be understood," Sullivan said. "But if all you're doing is making volunteering more difficult ... it's going to discourage parents from getting involved."

Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune