Who is a volunteer?
Under Act 15 of 2015 (the Act), which amends the provisions of the Child Protective Services Law, volunteers who are responsible for the child’s welfare or who have “direct volunteer contact” with children at a school— meaning the care, supervision, guidance, or control of children and routine interaction with children will be required to have background checks. The Act clarifies that “routine interaction” means “regular and repeated contact that is integral to a person’s employment or volunteer responsibilities.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Education's view is that mere visitors are not normally required to obtain background checks to the extent that such visitors are not responsible for a child’s welfare or are visiting the school irregularly and not providing for the care, supervision, guidance, or control of children. Some examples of situations where such visitors normally would not be required to have background checks would include but are not limited to: Back-to-School nights, parent/teacher conferences, school assemblies, school concerts, assisting with school birthday parties, parent guest readers, chaperones for field trips and dances (so long as not routine or responsible for the child’s welfare), Halloween parades, collecting tickets to sporting events, working concession stands, participating in “Career Day,” Etc. In this capacity, school visitors do not need clearances. By contrast, persons who are responsible for the child’s welfare or who wish to visit the school regularly to serve as volunteers and to provide for the care, supervision, guidance, or control of children would be required to have background checks. Some examples of persons needing background checks would include but not be limited to regular classroom volunteer assistants, recess and library volunteers, and volunteer coaches/club advisors. 

Who can help?
If you have you any questions about volunteering in the Reading SchoolDistrict or you need assistance with the Reading School District Volunteer Application and/or obtaining your checks and clearances, please call the Reading School District Office of Human Resources at 484-258-7000 ext. 10104 or stop by the Administration Building at 800 Washington Street.  

For questions about donating: 
Superintendent's Office
484-258-7030

For questions about volunteering:
Yulissa Lopez
Human Resource Generalist
484-258-7000 ext. 10104 

We always appreciate the kindness and generosity of our community. If you, your organization or your business would like to donate school supplies, please note our most requested supplies are listed below. In addition, you can work directly with our RSD schools to "adopt" a specific building, classroom or grade level.

• Tissues

• Hand sanitizer

• No. 2 pencils

• Crayola crayons and markers

• Bookbags

• Two-pocket folders

• Copy paper

• School uniforms, including solid-color polo shirts and khaki pants