BishopAccountability.org
	Becoming a Volunteer Not Easy By William Croyle Cincinnati Enquirer [Kentucky] August 8, 2005 Public and private schools in Kentucky and Ohio need and want parents to volunteer in classrooms, as coaches and as chaperones. But for a parent to just show up at school one day and expect to help immediately oftentimes isn't going to happen. "Every district has its own policies on what has to be done before you can volunteer," said Shirley Henderson, past president of Kentucky Coalition of School Volunteer Organizations. "You're better off to get on a school's volunteer approved list as soon as possible." Henderson said in public schools, Kentucky law requires a state background check on anyone who wants to volunteer, even for just a few hours on a field trip. The check can take anywhere from an hour to a couple of weeks, depending on backlog, Henderson said. A district may also require a volunteer to go through training. Training can be as simple as reading a handbook or involve meeting with a teacher. "I get compliments all the time from people, thanking us for helping keep their children safe," said Henderson. In Ohio public schools, each district decides the volunteer rules. At Lakota Plains Junior School, checks usually are not performed on parent volunteers unless volunteers will be working with students without staff supervision, such as in sports or music, said principal Bruce Lewis. But that doesn't happen often. In Catholic schools in the region, the policies are much stricter. The Diocese of Covington requires every volunteer to go through a three- to four-hour class, known as Virtus (a Latin word meaning "moral strength"), on how to prevent child sexual abuse. Those classes are generally offered a couple times a month. This has been a requirement since 2002, after the priest sex abuse scandal was addressed at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Volunteers must also read monthly electronic newsletters on preventing child sex abuse and undergo a background check like the public school volunteers in Kentucky. In Archdiocese of Cincinnati schools, volunteers must watch a video on diocesan policies, part of a 12-year-old program known as the Decree on Child Protection. That program was updated in 2003, requiring volunteers to be fingerprinted and have a background check. The diocese has fingerprinted and checked on more than 30,000 people in the last year. All schools - private and public - recommend that prospective volunteers fulfill the requirements before the school year begins.