Y&R Discussion Group

Topic: A background check to be a field trip chaperone for one day?!

I think of all the field trips my mom chaperoned when my brother and I were kids. I think about the field trip I chaperoned at my son's school a few years ago. The permission slips would go out, teachers would ask for a few chaperones, and that was that.

I have now learned that our school system, here in the grand ole Windy City, requires that all prospective chaperones complete a background check AND TB test. All for a 2-3 hour field trip. The background check, by the way, takes close to three weeks to go through.

Here we go with yet more bureaucratic red tape. I understand the reasoning, but for a field trip? My son's class does 2-3 field trips a year, and they've never asked chaperones to do a background check.

Yes we want to protect children from predators, but I don't know a lot of parents who are going to fill out a four-page form, get finger printed, and a TB test all for a field trip that's less than a half a day.

A bit of overkill, IMO.

sorry peaches i disagree! i work at a school and we have ALL EVERY SINGLE one of our volunteers live scanned and TB tested. being an old timer at our school it was a pain to do but i complied.

with livescan it's electronic and 1 piece of paperwork. it took 1 mom 20 minutes to take care of. it is now registered with the diocese so if she transfers to another catholic school she doesn't have to do it again.

many agencies that have parents coaching and being 1 on 1 with kids also require livescan.

overkill yes, probably BUT it only takes 1 time for something bad to happen and then we say woulda shoulda coulda.

anything to prevent a single child from being molested or hurt is worth it.

Replies: (list all replies)

I don't understand it and I work at a school, too. I think it's going too far and also gives everyone a false sense of security. You could encounter someone with TB anywhere you go...so what good is testing a chaperone? Background checks don't ensure that someone is OK, just that they haven't been arrested...yet. No one is alone one-on-one during any of our field trips. The risk of a bus accident is far higher than TB or a criminal chaperone. I'm glad we haven't resorted to this type of thing in my district. Tess

We don't check for TB either. The parents are not complaining about the police checks for those who work in the classrooms. They understand the reasoning and the school picks up the $10.00 cost. The field trip thing has yet to crop up. Denise

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Posted by: Jenny
Date posted: Sun Apr 27 2:36:58 2008
Message:

I can't disagree about the background checks, but can't they just check the predator websites that list names and addresses?  And have the police departments check for other crimes?  If they can have access to your record when they stop you for a speeding violation, it seems like they could do the same thing for a field trip that is usually known in advance.  Seems like schools would be wanting this info, anyway.  If their students live with a predator that has a record, well, I don't think that's usually the allowed thing to do.  The problem is, predators are not always caught, so a background check will not guarantee anything.

TB, well, that's even more ridiculous.  TB is one of the least contagious diseases NOW.  I can't see how being with a group of rowdy, jumping around youngsters can be infected.  It would probably take mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to spread that in 2-3 hours.  At least the TB tine test is good for a year, a background check is only as good as the available info.

 

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Posted by: Mz Chris
Date posted: Sat Apr 26 22:10:12 2008
Message:
Wow, that seems a little overkill to me.  A TB test?  Never heard of such a requirement.  I bet that would cut down on the chaparone competition at our school lol.  Usually they end up drawing names of which lucky parents want to go.........

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Posted by: DebS
Date posted: Sat Apr 26 13:08:58 2008
Message:
Unfortunately, those are the times we live in. It is overkill, but also a necessary evil. Protection of the kids comes first.

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Posted by: Tess
Date posted: Sat Apr 26 12:19:30 2008
Message:
It's completely insane. What's next? A psyhcological evaluation and complete physical? Lie detector tests? I bet field trips will come to a screeching halt and for good reason. You're asking parents to give of their time to volunteer, then telling them ''We don't trust you.''

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Posted by: Kate
Date posted: Sat Apr 26 11:42:40 2008
Message:

Sorry, Peaches, I agree with the school.  In this day and age, no one can be too careful. 

By ''three weeks to go through'  I assume you mean to get the results back.  Right?

*In the morning paper, Chicago had 15 murders in the past few days?  What's that all about? 

Replies: (list all replies)

Yes, it takes close to three weeks to complete the background check process. I understand why this needs to be done, but it's so unfortunate it's come to this. My former professor told me that many school districts have opted not to do field trips at all, because of the fear of tragedy and liability. If you have to ask parents to go through all this, why bother? Sadly, there have been an enormous number of homicides in Chicago this year, many of those victims being Chicago Public School students. Seems everyone is stumped as to what to do about this. Lots of talks about gun control, but also lots of talk about parents taking the lead in raising their kids.

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Posted by: serialmom
Date posted: Fri Apr 25 20:41:25 2008
Message:

Thank you for your kind words about my loss. I can't believe he's not here.

I was a room mother for my kids for the first few years of elementary school.  I went on field trips, brought food on holidays .  They even allowed me to bake my own cupcakes without samples taken for analysis. No personal background checks either.  Such a different world today in so many ways.

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