New Missouri law aims to prevent sex offenders from volunteering at schools
A new state law goes into effect on Wednesday requiring that volunteers at all Missouri schools first undergo a full criminal background check.
But most Kansas City-area districts already require such checks.
The law comes a year after state Auditor Nicole Galloway looked at Missouri’s sexual offender registration program and discovered that background checks were mandatory for school employees, but not volunteers.
Galloway, a Democrat, said she pushed for the law, passed by the Republican-dominated General Asssembly, to make students safer in school.
“I’m very pleased that legislators made this change quickly, not only as the Auditor who found the problem but also as a parent who wants my children — and all children — to be safe when they’re at school,” Galloway, who is running for Missouri governor, said in a statement.
Under the new law, a criminal background check has to be conducted for all volunteers who at any time might be alone with students. That includes anyone assisting in a school office or library or chaperoning a field trip, student mentors or tutors and coaches.
But a spot check of districts in the Kansas City area showed they were already checking the background of volunteers.
“Our district has been doing this for years,” said Stephanie Smith, spokeswoman for the Fort Osage school district in eastern Jackson County. “We pay the cost for the background check, and that is about $14 per person.”
North Kansas City school officials said all volunteers undergo a child abuse and neglect background screening and a criminal background screening, and they must also complete a volunteer policy form. The background checks are done by the Missouri Highway Patrol.
State Rep. Mike Henderson, the bill sponsor, said since several schools around the state already conduct background checks on volunteers, the measure was largely uncontroversial.
A former administrator and teacher, his school district began perform background checks more than 10 years ago.
“It was a little bit of a brouhaha with some of the parents when we first started,” said Henderson, a Desloge Republican. “...But the parents got accustomed to it.”
The State of Kansas does not have such a law on the books, said Mark Tallman, an associate executive director with the Kansas Association of School Boards. But he said most, if not all, districts do background checks as a general practice.
In addition to pushing for the Missouri law as a school safety measure, last week, when many children were heading back to school, Galloway requested that Gov. Mike Parson call legislators back into special session to take up state funding to provide armed resource officers in every school.
The governor did call a special legislative session for Sept. 9, but only to discuss sales taxes on used cars.
About 60 percent of Missouri public schools have school resource officers, who are armed and trained law enforcement officers. The state does not fund them. Instead, each district, in some cases in conjunction with a local police or sheriff’s department, pays for its own.
Galloway said that state audits have identified financial inefficiencies that could be eliminated to pay for a statewide program.
Mará Rose Williams: 816-234-4419, marawilliamskc
This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 5:07 PM.
