San Marcos Unified School District wants to thank you for inquiring about how to become a volunteer! The District has three levels of volunteer status.
Level A - Volunteering more than 5 hours per week on average
Level B - Volunteering less than 5 hours per week on average
Level C - A once-per-year volunteer activity (any volunteer who has volunteered for an event or activity in one year and wishes to volunteer a second time will be required to complete the Level A or Level B application, depending the duration of time they volunteer)
Volunteers must complete an application for EACH school site they volunteer with. School site staff are required to maintain an accurate, up-to-date list of their volunteers and this will assist them with maintaining records as accurate as possible. If you are applying for Level A volunteer at multiple sites, you will only need to complete one DOJ/FBI background check livescan. One livescan clearance is applicable to all applications submitted.
Volunteers who will be returning in upcoming years will need to submit a “Returning Volunteer” application in future years and for each specific site, assuming that they maintain the same volunteer Level status. Due to additional clearance requirements, volunteers moving from Level B to Level A will be required to complete the Level A application and complete the DOJ/FBI background check livescan in order to volunteer more than 5 hours per week.
Please see the various requirements below for more information.
Level A Volunteer
Volunteers who perform volunteer service for more than five hours per week or chaperone multiple field trips per year are required to submit an online application which includes:
- Megan’s Law clearance check
- Verification of Tuberculosis Risk Assessment/Examination clearance
- DOJ/FBI background check by Livescan fingerprinting (Paid for by SMUSD)
- Online Mandated Reporter Training
- Review and acknowledgment of the Volunteer Handbook
All volunteers and visitors at this level will check in and out daily with the Indenti-kid system and have a sticker badge visible at all times while on campus.
Level B Volunteer
Volunteers who perform volunteer service for less than 5 hours per week will be required to submit an online application which includes:
- Megan’s Law clearance check
- Verification of Tuberculosis Risk Assessment/Examination clearance
- Online Mandated Reporter Training
- Review & Acknowledgment of the Volunteer Handbook
All volunteers and visitors at this level will check in and out daily with the Identi-kid system and have a sticker badge visible at all times while on campus.
Level C Volunteer
Volunteers that wish to volunteer for ONE activity per year will be required to submit an online application which include:
- Megan’s Law clearance check
- Review and acknowledgment of the Volunteer Handbook
All volunteers and visitors at this level will check in and out daily with the Identi-kid system and have a sticker badge visible at all times while on campus.
Volunteer Handbook
All Volunteers, regardless of Level, are required to review the Volunteer Handbook and acknowledge that they will abide by its content.
Background Check Information
In accordance with Board Policy 1240 and California Education Code 49406(m), those volunteering 5 hours or more per week will be required to obtain a DOJ/FBI background check by Livescan fingerprintng. Once a volunteer has obtained DOJ/FBI clearance, they will not be required to repeat this. The district will pay for the cost of this service.
TB Test/Assessment
Level A and B Volunteers are required to obtain TB clearance.
California law requires that school staff and volunteers working with children be free of infectious tuberculosis (TB) disease. For more information, please visit the California Tuberculosis Controllers Association.
Mandated Reporter Training
Our district requires that the Child Abuse Mandated Reporter training is completed prior to volunteer applications being approved. While a volunteer is not considered a Mandated Reporter, the district’s expectation is our volunteers complete the training to ensure the well-being of our students. If a volunteer has a concern about suspected child abuse, those concerns must be reported to the site administrator immediately.