School volunteers could undergo sex-offender checks

One parent’s demand to know more about the people who interact with his kindergartner has prompted the Boulder Valley School District to consider requiring schools to cross-check names of volunteers with public sex-offender registries.

The district now doesn’t require full background checks of all its volunteers because the checks — which are done through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation — are expensive and time-consuming, said Superintendent Chris King.

Eric Maxfield, who has a child attending Louisville Elementary School, has asked the school board to change that. This week, Maxfield requested that district officials tighten their background-check policy because, he said, it’s their responsibility to keep students safe.

“I don’t want a volunteer that hasn’t had a background check and is a registered sex offender to be in a classroom with my students,” Maxfield told the school board.

As more criminal-history information becomes accessible to the public, Maxfield said, it makes sense for the district to take advantage of the improving technology. A tighter policy, he said, not only would enhance student safety but minimize the district’s liability.

School board member Patti Smith said Maxfield is not alone in his concerns. Smith said she receives e-mails from other parents who have the same queries about the criminal backgrounds of volunteers, and she suggested the district investigate the possibility of altering its volunteer policy to at least check names with sex-offender registries.