It’s ridiculous for the Clark County School District to make potential volunteers pay for their efforts

Just when I thought things couldn’t get more ridiculous, the Clark County School District wants volunteers to pay $60 for their own fingerprinting and, I would assume, more for TB testing, too (“Volunteering in schools to come at a cost,” Wednesday Review-Journal). Perhaps district officials could send a few less highly paid professionals to the Philippines on recruitment missions and pay the fees for the volunteers.

My husband volunteered for 10 years in the schools and worked almost every day with no recognition. When I was forced out of my job during the cutbacks of the recession years (after an exemplary career of 32 years in special education, by the way) I called to ask about substitute teaching. The response was that I should get online and apply, which included new fingerprints, new TB testing and new transcripts — just to substitute.

Who is making these crazy decisions? It would be a bargain for the district to pay $60 per person for people who want to help our kids. In a given day, a volunteer may be thee only person to spend quality time with some students. Shame on the district.