Dive Brief:

• A new Pennsylvania law passed in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal at Penn State, requires all K-12 school visitors to be fingerprinted and undergo background checks before coming onto campus.
• While school employees have always been required to go through these procedures, the new law now includes chaperones, volunteers, and parents, which some school administrators believe will hurt school participation by parents and guardians.
• While some fear the process may be a deterrent, there is also the question of cost. At $47 a person, it's currently unclear who is responsible for shouldering the costs.

Dive Insight:

Many Pennsylvania schools are already incredibly cash-strapped, so this new bill brings up a number of problems. Do schools divert funds from the classroom and students, or do parents shoulder the costs? If it's the latter, this puts low-income families at an automatic disadvantage when it comes to participating in school activities.

There is also the question of wait time. While the law says background checks should be turned around in two weeks, the wait has gotten up to 26 days. This could be problematic for planning events or field trips. The background checks and fingerprints must also be repeated every three years, so most parents will have to go through the process multiple times.

While the goal here is safety, the background checks could ultimately push families away from visiting schools, which should be a warm, nurturing place for community.