Higley Unified School District wants to follow other Arizona schools’ footsteps and increase security by checking the records of parents who volunteer to help at school events.
The five-member school board for the southeast Gilbert district last Thursday told Associate Superintendent Denise Birdwell that it supports a trial run of checking parents’ criminal backgrounds in court records and other such public databases, so it can determine the costs and benefits over a year.
Birdwell had raised the idea at a meeting last school year amid concern for students’ safety and worries about liability if a criminal incident were to occur on a school trip.
Many schools nationwide began background checks on parent volunteers as a security precaution after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But Higley officials’ were prompted to study the issue because of a recent spate of sex cases between students and staff or volunteers:
• Jeremy Ross Calvert, 21, a volunteer music aide at Higley High School, in July began serving a sentence of lifetime probation, two years in prison with credit for almost 18 months served, and is a registered sex offender. Maricopa County prosecutors allege he raped a student in a soundproof room at the school in fall 2006.
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