Craven school board approves background check requirements

Some Craven County School leaders believe the system may be setting a trend by approving a new policy requiring all volunteers to pass criminal background checks and to be fingerprinted before working in the school district.

The Craven County Board of Education unanimously approved, with one member absent, policy changes requiring all school employees and volunteers to be screened before they can work with children in the schools.

Gerald Johnson, assistant superintendent for human resources, said systems around the state are doing a “hodge-podge” of screening techniques, but he said there may be few others requiring background checks for all school volunteers.

“We are just going to be a trend-setter with this,” he said. “By and large, we’re just ensuring the safety of our school campuses.”

Previously, the district required background checks only for new employees as well as the 1,891 third- and fourth-level volunteers who could work one on one with children outside of staff supervision. Now, 922 level-one and level-two volunteers will have to be screened as well.

Any person can be rejected from volunteering if he or she has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a felony; been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any misdemeanor that indicates he or she may pose a threat to the integrity or safety to the school; or more than one Driving While Intoxicated conviction, among other conditions.

In addition, the names of volunteers and employees will be added to a searchable “24/7 Keep Watch Program” database that will provide automatic updates to the human resources personnel of crime convictions.

The background checks also apply to the 551 school employees hired prior to 1994, when the district first started doing background checks. Those employees will be added to the database.

“I think we realize in this day and time, it’s incumbent upon us to make sure we make every effort to keep our children safe,” said Carr Ipock, the board chairman.

In other business, the board:

n approved the use of the PayForIt.net program that will allow parents to pay for students’ meals online starting next school and to track their food purchases. Parents using the program will be charged a 5.75 percent transaction fee.

n approved an increase of $93 to out-of-county tuition for the 2010-11 school year, bringing tuition to $1,548. The out-of-county tuition is equal to the amount spent per pupil in local funding in fiscal year 2009.

n agreed to a change in regulation rather than policy that would allow principals to decide if certain students in the 21-credit graduation program can participate in extracurricular activities such athletics if they meet N.C. High School Athletic Association requirements.

Annette Brown, assistant superintendent for curriculum and accountability, said Tuesday that the extracurriculars could help the students stay connected with school.

Ipock said the program was created to give students at risk of dropping out a route to complete their high school diplomas with a reduced credit-hour total. He said that the board gave its general support of the regulation changes since they were in tune with the district policy’s aim to keep students in school.

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.