RESEARCH General Education

SCHOOL HELPERS
Volunteer screening policies need to be upgraded, legal scholar says

Mark Reutter, Business Editor
(217) 333-0568; mreutter@uiuc.edu

7/1/2001

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- School volunteerism has a new face. No longer do the mothers of
schoolchildren dominate after-school tutorials and supervise the bake sales. Increasingly, a wide range of community members do volunteer work, most notably retirees.

"The number of senior citizens volunteering in public schools is growing and will continue to increase over the next few decades," a University of Illinois law scholar writes. While the skills and experience of seniors are valuable tools for schools and children in a time of budget austerity, there are legal risks that must be addressed, according to Jamie Lake writing in the Elder Law Journal.

Public schools lag behind other nonprofit groups, such as churches and youth-service groups, in implementing policies that protect children and volunteers from potential harm. Most school districts do not have procedures to screen senior volunteers, let alone a policy for employing them, which opens the districts to the risk of legal liability as well as adverse publicity.

"In an era where the safety of schools is constantly questioned and doubted, public educators should take all action necessary to provide secure learning environments for all children," wrote Lake, an editor at the law journal and a graduate of the UI College of Law. In response to the argument of some school boards that screening is too difficult and costly to administer, "such investment is minimal compared to the costs of a lengthy and extensive lawsuit," Lake noted.

A school with screening procedures and a volunteer policy could actually save time and money by eliminating unqualified volunteers as well as those with criminal backgrounds. A low-cost alternative to extensive screening would be a program where young students are never left alone with an unsupervised volunteer.

"Once volunteers understand that the screening procedures are not a sign of suspicion about them, but a process undertaken to protect the children and the school, they will be willing to participate," she argued.

Another solution is to create partnerships with organizations equipped to handle the screening of volunteers. The National Senior Service Corps, established by the Clinton administration, currently manages more than 500,000 seniors in public service volunteer programs. Local coordinators of volunteer programs could provide the structure to make citizen volunteers effective in schools as well as other youth-service groups.

There is a growing body of evidence that volunteerism improves the physical and psychological well-being of seniors. "Healthy aging stems from more than just good health care and nutrition; it also relies upon productive involvement in organized activity," the UI scholar wrote. Studies show that seniors who volunteer have "increased self-esteem, renewed feelings of health and vigor, and new and satisfying social relationships."

The Elder Law Journal is published by the UI College of Law.