EmployeeScreenIQ

One St. Louis area school district is changing its criminal background check policy for volunteers.

The Francis Howell School District recently adopted a policy that will require volunteer workers who have lived in Missouri for the last five years to undergo a state criminal records check instead of a national FBI background check.

The in-state check, which is based on a person's name, does not require volunteers to be fingerprinted, making results available faster. However, volunteers who recently moved to the state will still be required to undergo FBI background checks.

In addition, all volunteers will have to undergo a background check every four years, and the district will continue to verify that all volunteers are not sex offenders, according to an article by Suburban Journals.

Officials at Francis Howell School District evaluate the background check of each volunteer depending on different parameters. For instance, someone convicted of child endangerment or drug possession would not be allowed to volunteer at all, while someone convicted of driving while intoxicated may be able to volunteer as long as they are not transporting children in their vehicle.

There is some controversy over the new policy, because while an in-state background check will reveal any open criminal records in Missouri, it will not show if a person was arrested and no charges were filed, if a person was found not guilty or if a person completed a sustained imposition of sentence.

On the positive side, the new policy has the potential to save the district a good amount of money, as the FBI background checks cost $52.50 per person and the Missouri checks only cost $9 per person. The district paid for 700 FBI background checks this year alone.

Labels: Criminal background check