District previews B Chex volunteer screening plan; $19 fee, $99 setup, 3-year rescreening discussed

District staff presented an informational proposal on July 17 to require background screening for volunteers who will chaperone field trips, work alone with students or otherwise have unsupervised access to children, recommending use of the vendor B Chex. Staff described the proposal as an informational item (not a board vote) and said similar background-screening protocols are used by nearby systems including Huntsville City, Madison City and Limestone County. Dr. Minsky, who introduced the topic, said the goal is student safety: "for the safety of our students that we really need to go this route." He described scenarios such as overnight trips where parents may share dorm space with students and the district's responsibility to protect students. Personnel manager Jennifer Brunsman walked the board through B Chex features and pricing. She said the vendor is nationally accredited, serves more than 800 districts, and provides a mobile ID-scan workflow. Brunsman outlined the standard package and timeline: a one-time district setup fee of $99; a $19-per-person volunteer cost paid at sign-up by credit card; an address-history trace and seven-year county criminal-record search (counties searched based on where the volunteer lived in the past seven years); and a real-time national sex-offender registry watch and security watch-list checks. Brunsman said the district can opt to pay for individual volunteers in hardship cases, if the board approves that approach. On rescreening, staff proposed a three-year cycle and said B Chex issues 90-, 60- and 30-day reminders to applicants and provides live updates to flagged registries. Brunsman said volunteers can download a mobile app showing an approval card and principals or front-office staff can receive lists of approved volunteers for each school. She described the vendor's portal options and reporting tools and noted there is no annual district fee beyond the one-time $99 setup. Board members asked questions about notification when screens expire, cost responsibility, and the live nature of watch-list updates. Staff said an expired screen shows a red X in the mobile app and on the district database and that the vendor maintains live information so a new adverse record would surface after initial approval. The item was presented as informational; no formal vote or binding agreement was recorded at this meeting. Staff said they hoped to roll out the program soon and would discuss details with principals at the School Leadership Academy.