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Uxbridge committee reopens fingerprinting policy for volunteers; members favor a clear, implementable approach
Summary
Committee members and administrators debated whether to require fingerprinting for volunteers. While some supported retaining fingerprinting for overnight/field‑trip access, others urged a tiered, enforceable policy and clearer procedures for checking compliance before approving volunteers.
The school committee revisited a fingerprinting requirement for volunteers and visitors, with members divided over scope and implementation.
Administration noted the district now uses the Raptor visitor‑screening system and that volunteers are run through a national database; administrators questioned whether universal fingerprinting for volunteers is necessary when Raptor and improved procedures can reduce risk. "It's a little bit prohibitive in terms of needing to get fingerprinted," the superintendent said, citing access and cost barriers for volunteers.
Several committee members and the policy subcommittee favored a calibrated approach: keep fingerprinting for volunteers who will have unsupervised or overnight access (field trips, overnight stays) but reduce burdens for brief, supervised classroom visits. "I would not support removing all fingerprinting requirements," one committee member said, while others urged that any tiered system be black‑and‑white and enforceable so administrators are not left making ad‑hoc decisions.
The committee asked administration to draft a recommendation that (1) defines volunteer tiers tied to the level of direct, unmonitored access to students, (2) clarifies who verifies fingerprint and CORI compliance, (3) considers low‑ or no‑cost options to reduce barriers, and (4) includes enforceable procedures for ubiquitous cases such as PTO events and book fairs.
No vote was taken; the policy subcommittee will work with administration to produce a clear, implementable proposal for the full committee’s next meeting.
