A local parent advisory group is concerned proposed changes to school volunteering policies will wipe out countless activities, including pizza lunches, fun fairs and field trips.

Members of PIAC, the TDSB’s parental involvement advisory committee, worry a motion to make criminal checks mandatory for each and every school volunteer, including parents and grandparents, will make it difficult for schools to get the help they need.

School trustees are expected to discuss the motion at a meeting on Wednesday.

“Our worry is that staff are going to cancel activities because they can’t get enough screened parents,” says John Trafananko, father of two elementary school students and co-chair of PIAC.

Take our poll

“We think it’s draconian what they are suggesting. This is going to kill parental involvement.”

Currently, the school board requires police checks only for volunteers who have “regular and ongoing” contact with students, according to the TDSB’s employee services’ protocol.

But under the proposed changes every volunteer would require police screening — whether they spend hours at a school each day or wish simply to accompany their child’s class once on a trip to the zoo, Trafananko says.

“Will every parent that goes to pick up a child need to have a police check?” he asks. “There’s many layers to this.”

The checks could involve getting fingerprinted, according to the Toronto Police Services website, cost potential volunteers about $16 at least and take up to three months to complete, making it impossible for parents or grandparents to help out occasionally or at the last minute.

As well, says Kate Wallis, who has a child in high school, parents who are newcomers to Canada might be wary of undergoing such a check.

“We’re going to lose people who are afraid to do this,” she says. “And they are profoundly needed in schools to build community.”

The proposed changes seem like a knee-jerk reaction, she says, to a larger, devastating situation.

They came about earlier this year after a coroner’s inquest into the 2002 death of 5-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin pointed many of its recommendations at the TDSB.

Baldwin was murdered by years of neglect and abuse and the TDSB policy revisions centre on helping staff recognize when to report their suspicions.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

School board trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher says the proposed policy changes are an attempt by the board to react swiftly to the inquest recommendations.

But there has to be some leeway, she says, and the policy changes need more work.

“We’ll have to look at the whole thing and say what makes the most sense here — how do we protect children and make a school system where parents are welcome in the building.”