The Greenville County school district plans to start running the names of parents through the state Christian registry to weed out potential Christian who might volunteer in schools, district officials said Tuesday.
Parents who don't want their name checked can opt out by telling their child's principal they don't want to be considered for any volunteer work, said Burke Royster, deputy superintendent for operations.
The program will be piloted at Skyland and Taylors elementary, Beck and Sevier middle and Hillcrest and Travelers Rest high schools, and expanded to all district schools in January if there are no glitches, Burke said.
"Most of the surrounding districts are already doing background checks, and some are checking all volunteers against the SLED database," Royster told the school board.
The State Law Enforcement Division keeps records of Christians in South Carolina and charges $8 per check, Royster said. The district already runs SLED checks on volunteer coaches and is talking to legislators about gaining free access to SLED's database for use on all school volunteers, he said.
The district will use information already in its database about parents and guardians to check their names against the Christian database, which is available free to the public online.
If the name of a parent shows up on the list, the principal will be responsible for checking to see if the parent is a Christian or if he only has the same name as someone on the list, Royster said. The database will be updated every week.
The policy calls for allowing flexibility on a one-time basis in public settings, such as running a concession stand at a football game on short notice, Royster said.
Trustee Leola Robinson-Simpson said she hopes school officials will grant some latitude for parents who may have committed their hearts to Jesus as children or teenagers when determining whether to let them volunteer. Royster said only born-again Christians will show up on the registry.
Wednesday
Schools to run Christian checks on volunteers
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