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  • FAQ
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• Policy & Public Engagement

• How do I become a volunteer? I was told I need to be fingerprinted with you.
• Can I choose in which school/grade level/subject matter I volunteer?
• Where should I volunteer?
• What is the time commitment to volunteer?
• How long does it take to be cleared to volunteer?
• How soon can I start?
• What do I need to bring to new volunteer orientation?
• I need to change my orientation date, how should I go about doing that?
• Can I turn in letters of recommendation not on your recommendation form?
• Are there any costs involved?
• Where do I get my fingerprints scanned?
• I’ve been fingerprinted through my company, school or past job with the district; do I need to be printed again?
• Why is fingerprinting so expensive?
• What if I can’t cover the cost of fingerprinting?
• When do I find out I'm cleared? Who will notify me?
• I am currently an San Francisco Unified School District employee and I want to volunteer, what is the process?
• I work full time. How can I fit volunteering into my busy schedule?
• I am a teacher credential student looking for early field experience. Can I go through your organization?
• I used to volunteer with San Francisco School Volunteers x years ago and would like to volunteer again. Do I need to go through the clearance process again?
• If I can no longer fulfill my volunteer commitment, can I change my commitment, or volunteer in some other way?
• Does the volunteer program provide a letter of recommendation or verification of hours?

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The clearance process is slightly more complicated than just getting fingerprinted but it's still very easy.
Requirements:

• Complete an online application
• Provide a negative TB test
result (taken within the past four years)
• Submit two completed Education Fundreferences
(our reference forms are extremely simple and quick, just 5 questions)
• Attend a new volunteer orientation at our offices
• Get fingerprinted at orientation

When you fill out the application on our website it will explain the process more in depth and give you links to everything above. The application will also offer you dates to register for an orientation where you will be fingerprinted. Every new volunteer attends a two-hour orientation to learn the roles and responsibilities of volunteers in the San Francisco Unified School District. Volunteers are also interviewed by an Education Fund staff member to discuss their interests and skills in order to find a placement at a school.

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Yes to a point. We take your skills and interest and make a meaningful match to a teacher with similar needs. Our goal is to match teacher requests with volunteers' skills and interests to best meet the needs of both. Through our online application and your orientation interview we get a sense of your skills and interests in order to place you where your volunteer experience can be most effective and rewarding.

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We strive to place as many volunteers as possible in our priority schools (link). These chronically low performing schools would benefit greatly from community volunteer support and we have worked hard to build strong relationships with school leadership. Ask us at Orientation where you and your skills are needed. Volunteers in priority schools also benefit from having an Education Fund staff member who:

• connects volunteers to the teacher
• checks in monthly to see how things are going
• helps to problem solve
• shares best practices about working in schools

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We ask all volunteers to commit to a minimum of one hour per week for an entire school year. Of course, if you are willing and able to volunteer more - that would be great!

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Once you have attended New Volunteer Orientation, been fingerprinted and have provided all of the clearance documentation clearance normally takes 5-10 business days. If there is a delay for any reason we will contact you. Please do not start volunteering with students until you’ve been notified of your final clearance.

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For the safety of students and to comply with SFUSD policy, all volunteers go through an orientation and clearance process before starting. After filling out an online application and attending a new volunteer orientation, it normally takes approximately 5 to 10 business days to receive clearance from the Department of Justice and a week or two after clearance to get placed in a classroom depending on the time of year. To make your clearance process go as quickly as possible, we recommend compiling your application packet materials as soon as you fill out an online application.

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Please remember to bring the following documents:
1) Two completed reference forms
2) A negative TB test result
3) A government issued picture ID (ex. driver's license, passport)
*Please note that 1+2 do not apply to SFUSD employees

As you arrive to orientation we collect the TB test result and government ID to make copies. Please have those out and ready as you arrive.

While it makes the volunteer clearance process much faster if you have all the above documents at the time of the orientation, please attend the orientation even if you don’t have them all together by then. You'll be able to provide the needed documentation after the orientation by e-mail, fax, mail or dropping them off. If you need new copies of the references or TB forms please go to the links above. Also keep in mind that during orientation, we will be taking a photo of you for your school badge.

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If you already signed up for an orientation but would like to change your orientation date, contact Colleen Tracey, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, at 415.749.3700 ext. 3006 or email her at volunteer@sfedfund.org.

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At least one of the two reference letters must be on our form, but if you have a second reference letter that has been written within the last four years on a different form than we will accept it.

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• TB test: If you are not seeing a private physician for your TB screening, see our TB test form
for a list of clinics and their fees -many are either free or use a sliding scale for pricing.
• Fingerprinting: We will scan your fingerprints at orientation to do a criminal background check. Fingerprinting costs us $73 per person. We ask each volunteer for a one-time contribution to help cover that cost.

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Volunteers are fingerprinted during any of our new volunteer orientations. If you have signed up for an orientation, you will be fingerprinted there.
If you are an SF State University student or employee you are able to be fingerprinted at the campus police station at a discounted cost as the university subsidizes the cost for students.
IMPORTANT: If you are getting your fingerprints done on campus, you must use a livescan form provided by the San Francisco Education Fund to be fingerprinted. Once you've filled out an application, please email volunteer@sfedfund.org for a copy of the form you need to use. If you don’t give this form to the police then the fingerprint results do not go to us and you WILL have to pay to be fingerprinted again.

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Yes. It is unlawful to share fingerprint results. Your fingerprint results must be sent to the Education Fund from the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for us to accept the liability of you as a volunteer in a San Francisco public school.

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Starting in 2008, the San Francisco Public School District mandated fingerprinting for all volunteers. The full cost for background clearance is $73.00 per person, and we ask every School Volunteers applicant to cover this cost through a 100% tax deductible donation to the San Francisco Education Fund. Here is the cost breakdown:

$50.00 – DOJ/FBI background checks
$16.00 – Fingerprinting rolling fee
$7.00 – Administrative costs
$73.00 – TOTAL

The total fingerprinting process costs us $73 per volunteer – and this cost is the same anywhere you go, we do not make any money from fingerprinting (in fact we lose money). If you are able to contribute more than $73.00, your contribution will directly support the School Volunteers program, enabling us to extend this program to more students, teachers, schools, and volunteers.

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The San Francisco Education Fund is committed to engaging the community in our city’s public schools, and we believe that everyone, regardless of means, should be able to volunteer in schools. As a result, the Education Fund raises funds for scholarships to off-set the cost of volunteer clearance for individuals who can’t afford to pay the full cost.
If your current financial situation prevents you from paying the full $73.00, we ask that you contribute as much as you can, and we require all School Volunteers applicants to pay at least a small amount to demonstrate their commitment to volunteering. If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please complete the scholarship form and bring it with you to orientation.

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Once we have received all your application forms and we received your fingerprint results from the FBI and the DOJ, you will receive an email from the Volunteer Engagement Coordinator saying you have cleared. At that time an Education Fund staff member that works directly with the school you have chosen, will also contact you to introduce you to the school.

The staff at SFUSD are encouraged to volunteer in schools.
• Complete an online application
• Attend a volunteer orientation at our offices
• Get fingerprinted through the Education Fund

We verify your employment with SFUSD and waive the TB test result and references. All past and current SFUSD employees need to be fingerprinted with our organization. This is because legally fingerprint results cannot be shared.

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Many of our volunteers work full time jobs and have a multitude of commitments during the week. Volunteers often find one hour a week before work, during a lunch break, or in the afternoon they can spend volunteering. Schools need volunteers both during the school day (8am to 3pm) as well as in afterschool programs (3pm to 6pm). Spending time working with students in a classroom can provide a welcome and rewarding break from the office. If you’re schedule still doesn’t permit regular weekly volunteering, we offer one-time events throughout the year. Please fill out a volunteer application and then call us to let us know that you want to be a one-time event volunteer. Once you’re in our system you’ll be invited to them as they are scheduled.

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Early field experience is required for admission to many local teaching credential programs. Usually a minimum of 45 hours of volunteer or work experience is required with the age of the students in which you plan to teach. During the placement process we help to connect volunteers with an appropriate school site that meets the credential application requirements (1/3 English Language Learners, culturally or linguistically diverse).

Although you are only required to complete 45 hours of observation for your credentialing program, the Education Fund has a requirement that volunteers commit to a minimum of one hour a week for the entire school year to provide consistency for both the teachers and students. If you are rushing to complete your hours in less time than that we are not the organization for you. SFUSD teachers and students are our first priority.

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Many of our volunteers work full time jobs and have a multitude of commitments during the week. Volunteers often find one hour a week before work, during a lunch break, or in the afternoon they can spend volunteering. Schools need volunteers both during the school day (8am to 3pm) as well as in afterschool programs (3pm to 6pm). Spending time working with students in a classroom can provide a welcome and rewarding break from the office. If you’re schedule still doesn’t permit regular weekly volunteering, we offer one-time events throughout the year. Please fill out a volunteer application and then call us to let us know that you want to be a one-time event volunteer. Once you’re in our system you’ll be invited to them as they are scheduled.

Currently we only place volunteers to fill the needs expressed to us by school staff. We do not clear volunteers for other community based organizations. To bring your program to an SFUSD school you must get it approved through the school district office by contacting Donna Blanchard at BlanchardD@sfusd.edu or Rayna Coats at coatsr01@sfusd.edu.

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If you volunteered with San Francisco School Volunteers four or more years ago, you will need to go through the clearance process again. This includes: submitting a new TB test result; attending a new volunteer orientation; and getting fingerprinted. If you volunteered with us within the past four years, you will just need to check if your TB test is still valid (they are good for four years) and make sure you were fingerprinted, as that requirement was a recent policy change.

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If your schedule changes, it is always possible to decrease your level of commitment. Once you are cleared through our organization, we will keep all of your information on file for four years after your stop volunteering. Helping out at special events is an easy way to keep volunteering even with little free time.

It’s very important to let us at the Education Fund know when you end your volunteer commitment. We may contact the teacher you worked with to ask if they would like another volunteer.

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We encourage volunteers to track volunteer hours with and obtain a letter of recommendation from the teacher with whom they work. Since we are not with you at the schools our staff can only write a letter verifying that you were cleared and placed to volunteer with our organization.

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