Visitor & Volunteer Information

Safety and security of our students is one of Newton Public Schools main goals. With that in mind all volunteers are required to submit a Volunteer Disclosure and Authorization for Background Check and Applicant Information Form.

A background check is required every 3 years for all volunteers. Please contact your school with any questions. 

Based on the district’s experience with employee background checks, it is anticipated that background checks will take anywhere between 24 hours and 5 days before the district receives the report.

The district practice of conducting background checks for volunteers includes:

• Volunteers will not be discriminated against based on any factor including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. All persons volunteering regularly in district buildings or attending school field trips will be subject to a background check.
• Regular volunteers will include anyone that plans to attend any school field trip or has volunteered three or more times. This would include multiple buildings.
• USD 373 utilizes an online system created to help school systems manage volunteer screening which is provided by the Background Investigation Bureau (BIB).
• The district will conduct national background checks that review the following information: criminal records and valid social security number.
• The following information will be requested from volunteers in order to conduct the background check: name, social security number, address, and date of birth.
• If negative records are disclosed, a confidential meeting will be held with volunteers. The meeting will be conducted by the Director of Human Resources.
• Access to all background checks will be limited to the Director of Human Resources and the Administrative Assistant for Human Resources.
• Negative records that would be considered when eliminating potential volunteers from volun- teering in the schools would include but not be limited to drug possession, drug use, sale or distribution of drugs, or sexual assault. Consideration would be given to offenses that occurred at a young age or were many years in a person’s past. The purpose is to protect students and staff. Therefore, the concern is that past criminal activity not be potentially harmful to students and staff.

Starting in the 2019-20 school year, USD 373 began using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty.  Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system will allow us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.  

Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present an ID such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system.  If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge.  

The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders.  The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. 

Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit.  A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.  

The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students.  Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.