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Volunteer Info

Parent/Community Volunteer

Kutztown Area School District welcomes and encourages visitors and volunteers in its schools and classrooms.  

  • A visitor is defined as an individual who participates in an event or activity at a school and is not responsible for the care, supervision, guidance or control of children (ie: adult attendee at school assemblies, ticket collectors, guest readers/speakers)
  • A volunteer is defined as an individual who offers a service to the district for no compensation, and is responsible for the welfare of children and/or has routine interaction with children (ie: trip chaperones, tutors, coaches, activity advisors, regularly scheduled classroom help, recess/library aides, garden volunteers)

All unpaid volunteers are required by law to provide their school districts with all three clearances less than sixty (60) months old and to update the clearances every five years. There is an exception to the FBI fingerprint clearance for volunteers ONLY who have continuously resided in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for ten plus years without any convictions, which is shown on the Volunteer Application/Information Form. Additionally, all volunteers must submit forms listed below, signed and completed in their entirety. These forms can also be picked up at any of the school building offices. 

  • Volunteer Application/Information Form OR Senior Volunteer Tax Exchange Program Form (either will need to be submitted ANNUALLY)
  • Act 24 Arrest/Conviction Report and Certification Form (needs to be submitted ANNUALLY)
  • Act 34 PA Criminal Clearance (no cost for volunteers) 
  • Act 151 Child Abuse History Certification (no cost to volunteers)
  • Act 114 FBI Fingerprint Clearance (current cost $24.20): ONLINE REGISTRATION ONLY (Service Code 1KG6ZJ) OR Residency Affidavit on the Volunteer Application/Information Form (if eligible)
  • Tuberculosis Screening (TB Test) Can be done by your physician, or by contacting the KAHS school nurse at 610-683-7346 x5544. *The Pennsylvania Public School Code, Section 1418(b) requires that school personnel be tested for TB. School personnel to be tested include employees and independent contractors who provide direct services to students on behalf of a school, including but not limited to teachers, nurses, administrators, physicians, dentists, dental hygienists, custodians, janitors, cooks, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, librarians, psychologists, audiologists and counselors, and student teachers and volunteers. The Department of Health defines “direct service” as those persons in direct contact with student 10 or more hours/week.”

Also, as a district volunteer, you are required (as are all school employees) to provide notice of an arrest or conviction of certain offenses, or if you are being named a perpetrator in a report, within 72 hours of the arrest, conviction or listing as a perpetrator. The district reserves the right to process, at their own cost, additional background clearance checks on any volunteer who is reasonably believed to be involved in an arrest, conviction or named as a perpetrator.

All volunteers may submit for FBI clearance expense reimbursement (except money order fees), but ONLY if you are not eligible to sign the Residency Affidavit on the application. Please complete the Volunteer Expense Reimbursement Form and submit, along with receipt, to the building office in which you will be volunteering. The principal will approve it and forward it to the HR Office. You will receive a check in the mail for your reimbursement. Since there is no longer a fee for Criminal Check and Child Abuse clearances the district will not reimburse those expenses if you paid for them. (The business office must receive reimbursement paperwork by the first Friday of the month in order to be approved at the second monthly board meeting. Otherwise, it will have to wait until the following month.)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the HR office at 610-683-7361, ext. 5519. 

Senior Volunteer Tax Rebate Program

The Kutztown Area School District, Board Policy 916, offers a Senior Volunteer Tax Rebate Program which allows individuals who are at least sixty (60) years of age, who own real property in the district and have resided within the district for at least ninety (90) days, to receive a real property tax credit in exchange for volunteer service in the district, as permitted by state law. Participants have the opportunity to volunteer at the current PA minimum wage rate, in exchange for up to a $1,200 rebate for current year’s property taxes paid.

PSERS retirees would be subject to Return to Service provisions of the Retirement Code, including the stoppage of their monthly annuity, because the retiree is receiving retirement-covered compensation click here for PSERS information. 

To apply, complete the attached application, or the HR office at 610-683-7361, ext. 5519.