M-P board reviews, upholds visitor, volunteer policies

By Molly Roberts
Posted 3/22/22

After requests from community members at the February 28 meeting of the Mid-Prairie School Board, the board on Monday, March 21 reviewed the policies in place regarding visitors and volunteers who …

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M-P board reviews, upholds visitor, volunteer policies

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After requests from community members at the February 28 meeting of the Mid-Prairie School Board, the board on Monday, March 21 reviewed the policies in place regarding visitors and volunteers who attend and participate in school-sponsored events.

The issue arose after parents had concerns about Trent Yoder, who volunteers his time to build sets for the Fine Arts Boosters and was previously convicted of exploitation of a minor in 1998.

In 2018, the school board reviewed and wrote policy 903.2 in which an adult volunteer is defined as a community member who works during a school-sponsored event and states that “individuals not directly working with students may still be defined as adult volunteers if the work is performed repeatedly over a significant period of time.” Policy 903.3 defines a visitor as someone who visits during the school day for an isolated event or a attends a school-sponsored activity.

Policy 903.2 states that persons wishing to volunteer for school-sponsored activities must submit an application form to the Human Resource Coordinator and undergo a background check that includes, among other things, a Sex Offender Records Search.

School board member Mary Allred, as a Task Force member charged with investigating the policy, said she does not think there is an issue with either policy 903.2 or 903.3, to which several administrators including Robin Foster, Greg Jergens and Chuck Banks added they believe the policy to be sufficient. The board agreed that the issue lies not in the policies themselves, but in determining distinction between a visitor and volunteer.

“I believe [the policy] is well written… in the execution of it [the individual] spilled over from a visitor into a volunteer and at that point in time, should have worked [their] way through the volunteer process,” said board president Jeremy Pickard.

Fine Arts Booster President Stacie Woodside told The News that Yoder and his family donate their time to build the play and musical sets because their children participate in the arts programs, building the sets on their private property and delivering them to be installed at the high school in the evenings after all students have left the premises or on weekends.

“Mr. Yoder is never alone at the high school and he is certainly never there while students are present,” she said in an email. “While he comes to deliver the set, he is always with another booster parent… and a staff member is also present to supervise until his work is complete.”

She added that this is within the guidelines established by the board in 2018.

There were no revisions made to either policy 903.2 or 903.3 at Monday’s meeting.

The board and administrators, including Human Resource Director Carmela Ulin, noted that the Activities Department and other departments are reminded of the policies at the beginning of each year and throughout the year.

“I think it’s clear on that situation that has arose that that person went from a visitor to a volunteer, and they just need to follow the volunteer process,” Pickard said. “There was a breakdown of communication and a breakdown of following the policy, so we can take a look into it and figure out where that breakdown happened and why that breakdown happened and how to avoid future breakdowns from happening again.”