3.3.3 Volunteers and Visitors

All visitors to a school, including parents, must sign in at the main office and receive proper authorization to be in the school.  Visitors may be asked by the school site staff to display their passes as requested.  

The school site principal has the authority to prohibit conduct or activity that may interfere with student safety, interfere with instruction, or otherwise disrupt normal school activities.  The following types of restrictions shall apply to minimize disruptions and safety concerns at school sites.  However, this list is not exhaustive and the principal may develop additional reasonable restrictions:

1. Visitors should make advance arrangements to meet with school staff to minimize the interruption of instructional time and work responsibilities.  UESF Teachers Contract Section 14.2.5 requires 24 hours advance notice prior to a classroom observation unless agreed to otherwise by both parties.
2. School and classroom observations must be limited to 30 minutes to avoid disruption (including observations by parents or parent-invited assessors), unless alternative arrangements have been made, or except where the observation is being made by an assessor in accordance with CA Education Code 56329 (b).  Note that all non-parent observers must be accompanied by school staff for observations and this must be pre-arranged.
3. Students visiting another school must have prior authorization from the home school principal as well as the site principal before entering the school site during school hours.  
4. Dogs or other pets are not permitted on campus.  This restriction does not apply to service animals.

The school site administrator/principal may deny or withdraw access to the school if the visitor willfully disrupts the orderly operation of the school; commits an act likely to interfere with the peaceful conduct of school activities; or reasonably appears to have entered the school for the purpose of committing any such act.  (CA Penal Code 626.4, 626.7)

No electronic listening or recording device may be used in a classroom without the prior consent of the teacher and principal of the school, given to promote an educational purpose.  This prohibition applies to all persons, including students.  (CA Education Code 51512)

All staff or volunteers who will have more than limited contact with SFUSD students are required to clear both a criminal background check and a tuberculosis test.  SFUSD defines “more than limited contact” as: the volunteer has the opportunity to be alone with a student or group of students at any time (without supervision by school staff) and/or the person may have the opportunity to develop a relationship of trust with a student or group of students.  

SFUSD Administrative Regulation 1240 provides that parents do not need to get fingerprinted if they are volunteering in their own child's classroom or on a field trip, and the Superintendent or designee may waive TB testing if the parent will not have frequent or prolonged contact with students.

Any person who is required to register as a sex offender under CA Penal Code Section 290 is prohibited from acting as a school volunteer. (SFUSD Board Policy 1240, CA Education Code 35021, CA Penal Code 290).