CPS Volunteer Requirements

According to CPS policy, anybody who is going to be in contact with students must be approved as a CPS volunteer. There are two levels of volunteers, Level 1 and Level 2.

Level II Volunteers

(This process can be completed in a day & is required even of volunteers for Friends of Northside events)
A fingerprint criminal background check is not required for Level II Volunteers.

A Level II Volunteer is:

1.	A parent providing supervised volunteer service in their child’s school or classroom for less than 10 hours/week;

2.	Any individual providing volunteer service for less than 5 hours/week at a school where s/he does not have a child enrolled;

3.

An individual providing incidental volunteer service with no ongoing individualized interaction with a student(s) including those who speak at a class/assembly, judge academic competitions, give musical performance, participate in the “Principal for a Day” program, job shadowing event or other one-time event provided where there is direct supervision of the activity/event by regular school employees;

4.	A parent accompanying his/her child’s class on a one-day field trip or another type of extracurricular activity that does not involve an overnight stay;

5.	An individual providing volunteer service on projects/activities involving no or nominal contact with children (home-based volunteer activities, volunteers serving at Central or Network office).

Level I Volunteers

(Please allow 8-12 weeks for the entire process)
A fingerprint criminal background check is required for all Level I Volunteers.

A Level I volunteer is:

1.	A parent providing volunteer service in their child’s school or classroom for 10 or more hours/week;

2.	An individual providing volunteer service for 5 or more hours/week at a school where s/he does not have a child enrolled;

3.	Any individual chaperoning an overnight school-sponsored trip, regardless of the hours/week that the volunteer serves (See also the Student Travel Policy).

To become a volunteer, please visit CPS’ Volunteer website and follow the instructions. There is also a link on Northside’s website on the Parents page Northside Volunteers.

Assistant Principal Barnett Evins is Northside’s Volunteer Coordinator. After applying to become a volunteer, you must visit the school and show Ms. Barnett Evins your ID, so she can approve you to move forward in the volunteer process. For Level II volunteers, that is the only step you must take. For Level 1, you will receive further instructions from CPS.