Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. Participating
member schools and school districts make extensive use of regular volunteers
for many of their programs. In seeking and accepting the voluntary services of
qualified, interested individuals, the participating members recognize that
they have basic responsibilities to the regular volunteers as well as to the
students and to themselves.
B. Each
participating member shall be responsible for organizing and managing its own
regular volunteer program subject to the following rules. Participating member
schools, school districts and other educational entities shall have in place
policies clearly establishing how and by whom regular volunteers are appointed
and the policies at minimum shall require:
(1)
interviewing all prospective regular volunteers and doing a background check
including, but not limited to any history of drug abuse or drug dealing,
domestic violence, DUI offenses, and sex crimes;
(2) providing all regular volunteers with a
job description, outlining specific duties, time commitment and qualifications
for acceptance as a regular volunteer;
(3) providing appropriate training,
supervision and evaluation of regular volunteers; and
(4) instructing all regular volunteers to
understand that failure to obey the code of ethics and standards of
professional conduct as provided in 6.60.9.8 NMAC and 6.60.9.9 NMAC concerning
the obligations of school personnel is grounds for dismissal.
C. Regular volunteers shall not be
allowed to begin their service until after their duties are explained to them
and they have accepted in writing the following volunteer pledge. It is my
duty:
(1) to deal justly and considerately
with each student, school employee or other volunteer;
(2) to share the responsibility for improving
educational opportunities for all;
(3) to stimulate students to think and learn,
but at the same time protect them from harm;
(4) to respect the confidentiality of student
records and information about students, their personal or family
life;
(5) not to discriminate or to
permit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity,
sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion or serious medical condition
against any person while I am on duty as a volunteer;
(6) to avoid exploiting or unduly influencing
a student into engaging in an illegal or immoral act or any other behavior that
would subject the student to discipline for misconduct, whether or not the
student actually engages in the behavior;
(7) to avoid giving gifts to any one student
unless all students similarly situated receive or are offered gifts of equal
value for the same reason;
(8) to
avoid lending money to students;
(9) to avoid having inappropriate contact
with any student, whether or not on school property, which includes all forms
of sexual touching, sexual relations or romantic relations, any touching which
is unwelcome by the student or inappropriate given the age, sex and maturity of
the student;
(10) to avoid giving a
ride to a student;
(11) not to
engage in sexual harassment of students, other volunteers or school
employees;
(12) not to engage in
inappropriate displays of affection, even with consenting adults, while on
school property or during school events off premises;
(13) not to possess or use tobacco, alcohol
or illegal drugs while on school property or during school events off
premises;
(14) to use educational
facilities and property only for educational purposes or purposes for which
they are intended consistent with applicable law, policies and rules;
(15) to avoid any violent, abusive, indecent,
profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct when on
school property or off campus at school functions;
(16) to refrain from using school information
technology equipment, hardware, software or internet access for other than a
school related purpose;
(17) to
refrain from striking, assaulting or restraining students unless necessary in
the defense of self or others;
(18)
to refrain from using inflammatory, derogatory or profane language while on
school property or while attending school events off premises;
(19) to refrain from bringing or possessing
firearms or other weapons on school property except with proper
authorization;
(20) not to be under
the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs on school property or at school
events off premises; and
(21) to
report, as appropriate under the circumstances, violations of this pledge by
other regular volunteers or school employees.
D. For the mutual protection of regular
volunteers and the participating members, personnel administering regular
volunteer programs shall provide a safe place to work and clear project
organization or direction, establish and inform regular volunteers of emergency
procedures, ensure that regular volunteers understand that their activities
create participating member's liability, and that ethical standards apply to
them as well as to regular school employees. Participating member personnel
shall inform each regular volunteer in writing of the reserved right to dismiss
unsatisfactory regular volunteers and of the established procedures for doing
so.
E. Spontaneous volunteers are
not subject to these rules, but spontaneous volunteers must be supervised at
all times by an employee or regular volunteer of the school district, charter
school or other educational entity.