A new law meant to protect students has become a confusing mess for parents, teachers, and district officials of the Clark County School District.
Thestate law requires certain parent volunteers to get background checks. At CCSD, volunteers are expected to pay for the $60 background check out of their own pockets.
The district has established bare minimum guidelines schools must follow to be in compliance with the law. However, if individual schools want to make their guidelines more strict, the district gives them the freedom to do so, according to Assistant Superintendent Tammy Malich.
Some parents believe certain schools are going overboard.
For example, parents of Stuckey Elementary School students told 13 Action News in some cases they are being restricted from even entering campus if they aren't background checked.
"For example, they have a book fair and before you could attend the book fair at the library and then head outside to the playground, but even now you can't do that," said Sylvia Stoehr, mother of a kindergarten student.
Malich confirms Stuckey is taking one of the strictest approaches in the district.
"We do have some principals that feel strongly that they want to put the most assurances in place to assure that students are safe," Malich said.
Malich said the district has heard concerns from parents who want to eat lunch with their children on campus and don't think a background check is necessary.
She said the district is working with the state to address those concerns and make the policies more uniform district-wide.
The district is also working on a funding plan to help parents who can't afford the background check.
