Category A Volunteer:  All school and remote volunteer roles that support the school, staff, or students. This volunteer role can include direct student contact if the volunteer is supervised. District personnel must be on-site and within view if the volunteer will interact with students. Alternatively, another approved adult volunteer must participate in the activity and always be present. The standard volunteer onboarding process applies to Category A volunteers. 

Examples: classroom or library assistance, field trip planning, office or recess support, and school newsletter editor. 

Category B Volunteer:  All school and remote volunteer roles that involve contact with students without staff or other approved Category A volunteers present. Additional screening is required for Category B volunteers. Please only apply for Category B if SPS staff specifically requested it.

Examples: math club coach, one-on-one tutor (including remote/virtual), mentor, and chaperone for field trips longer than three days.  

Field trip chaperones and drivers: Only approved Category A or B volunteers can be recruited to serve in chaperone or driver roles.

Additional steps (chaperones) and screening (drivers) are required – check with the field trip organizer and/or review the Field Trips Procedures page.

Athletic volunteers who work with student-athletes apply directly to the Athletics Department. Please do not proceed with the steps outlined below – apply through the SPS employment portal.

Athletic sports include Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Slow Pitch, Soccer, Softball/Fast Pitch, Swim, Tennis, Track, Track & Field, Ultimate Frisbee (Middle School only), Volleyball, Wrestling.

All other sports coaches are onboarded by the school as Category B school volunteers with extra requirements (CPR & First Aid, Concussion, and Sudden Cardiac Arrest Courses).

Garden volunteers and Self-Help Projects volunteers do not complete this volunteer application process. Instead, please review instructions from Self Help Projects.

SPS is committed to providing students with a safe educational environment. This includes ensuring every volunteer and staff member completes an appropriate criminal background check.

• SPS screens all volunteer applicants via the state criminal records database. This database is accessible to SPS for free via Washington State Patrol (WATCH). This background check is sufficient for all Category A volunteers who have lived in our state for three years.
• WATCH does not produce criminal records outside of our state, and unfortunately, the federal government does not provide an equivalent database. Therefore, Category A volunteers who have lived in other states or countries during the last three years must purchase their background check from our partner vendor, Sterling Volunteers – the fee is usually $21. 

• If your volunteer role will involve spending unsupervised time with students (including as a remote/online volunteer), or you will chaperone 3+ day overnight field trips, you must complete the national background check even if you are a long-time resident of Washington.
• School staff also checks references for volunteers who will serve in one-on-one tutoring or mentoring roles.

Selecting an incorrect background check type will delay your approval. 

Every parent or caretaker should have the opportunity to participate in their student’s education. If you face barriers to completing the online background check, please review “Background check affordability” for information about assistance.

• If your state background check is clear, you will be notified immediately via email.
• If you purchase a national or international background check, you will receive your results directly from Sterling Volunteers, usually within a few days.
• If there are any records on your background check or your report shows possible duplicates (criminal records of other Washington State residents who have similar names to yours), the school volunteer program liaison will process your background check manually. Expect an additional week for processing. 

Please note: While all volunteers must be screened through the background check, a criminal history does not automatically disqualify an applicant from volunteering in the schools. If you would like to know if your criminal records may affect your ability to volunteer with SPS, please review this flow chart used by schools to determine eligibility.