Volunteers
We are excited to welcome volunteers and visitors to Rockwood schools!
When schools and families work together to support learning, everyone benefits.
- Students do better in school and in life.
- Parents become empowered.
- Teacher morale improves.
- Schools get better.
- Communities grow stronger.
Visitors are those who are at school to eat lunch with their child, attend a meeting, class party, school assembly or event.
Volunteers help schools deliver services to students and schools that go above and beyond what can be provided through district resources.
Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times. Both volunteers and visitors are subject to checks to ensure everyone’s safety.
Visitors
At all Rockwood schools, visitors must be admitted into the building through a monitored locking system. Visitors during school hours will press the buzzer on the system, wait to be identified by a staff member and then access the building once the door opens.
- All school visitors must sign in and sign out at the school office each time they come to the school.
- Visitors will be asked to provide a driver's license when they arrive at the school check-in center.
- All school visitors will be screened through our visitor management system, SchoolPass.
- Visitors are required to wear a name tag/badge identifying them while they are on a school campus.
- All visitor activities take place under the supervision of school personnel.
- Visitors will participate in safety drills if they occur while at a school.
- Read more about school visitors on Policy 1430: Visitors to Schools.
Volunteers
In addition to following the protocols for visitors, anyone who may spend time alone with a student without the supervision of a staff member is considered a volunteer and is required by law to have a full fingerprint background check through the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI.
This includes:
- Anyone who consistently volunteers in a school and who may be alone with a student or students;
- Anyone who chaperones on a field trip.
Additionally, if you wish to volunteer in Rockwood, you must fill out a form each year as part of the process to be cleared.
(The form will be available soon.)
Fingerprint Background Check for Volunteers
Please Note:
Volunteers only need to do this once.
If you are a current employee, SSD employee or substitute in the Rockwood School District, you are already cleared as a volunteer.
It can take volunteers anywhere from 2-6 weeks to be approved, so please do not delay if you plan to volunteer in the coming months.
Per Missouri Statute 168.133, those who wish to volunteer in a school must complete a one-time fingerprint background check through the Missouri State Highway Patrol and FBI. The cost for the background check is approximately $45 and is the responsibility of the volunteer. This background check only needs to be done once while you are a volunteer in Rockwood and does not need to be repeated annually.
Here is the link to the MACHS fingerprint registration portal. Please use the registration code of 1838 when you register.
Send a copy of the fingerprint receipt to Evelyn Mayer in Rockwood’s Human Resources Department so she knows you have submitted your background check. Once we have received the cleared results, you will be added to the district’s list of cleared volunteers, which is accessible by our school principals.
More About Volunteering
What You Need to Be a Volunteer
- A genuine interest in helping children
- A commitment to volunteering
- A positive attitude
- School volunteer training
- Regular attendance
What School Volunteers Do
- Reinforce skills taught by teachers
- Give students individual attention
- Provide enrichment to the curriculum
- Assist teachers with classroom duties
- Provide services that support schools and programs
Support for School Volunteers
- Teachers can organize tutoring/mentoring opportunities in the classroom
- Schools can help volunteers find opportunities within programs, the office or the library.
- Parent-teacher organizations need volunteers for special PTO events, parent leadership roles and committee involvement.