Lolo schools report: fingerprints, ski trip and a possible statewide school health trust

Dale Olinger, superintendent of the Lolo School District, updated the council on calendar and operational items and warned of logistical challenges from new state requirements.

Olinger highlighted school activities including Veterans Day classroom events, boys’ basketball, a PTSA craft fair scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13, Missoula Children’s Theater visiting in December, and a seventh/eighth-grade ski and snowboard trip funded through the innovative education tax-credit donation system.

On volunteer screening, Olinger said, "full federal fingerprint background checks are now required for almost all school volunteers," adding that fingerprints cost about $20 to process through the Department of Justice and that longer turnaround times are creating a burden for parents and for schools coordinating field trips and volunteer activities.

Olinger said the district is working to offer fingerprinting in-house to reduce barriers but that the Department of Justice’s processing capacity is constraining turnaround. He also described a statewide effort to form a public-school health insurance trust authorized by a $40,000,000 endowment from the 2023 legislature; Lolo is considering joining if the trust is able to form.

Why it matters: fingerprinting and volunteer-screening changes affect parents’ ability to participate on short notice for trips and classroom activities, and the health-trust discussion could affect school benefits and long-term costs if it materializes.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 195; topfinish SEG 358.