School Volunteer Convicted of Child Abuse

Penny West served as a volunteer every day at an elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, despite being found guilty of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause death in early August

Tucson Unified School District volunteers are not subjected to fingerprinting or background checks. Rather, they must disclose their criminal histories, and then the decision whether or not to allow a person with a criminal history to volunteer is left up to the principal of the school.

West and her husband, Randall West, will be sentenced on September 22nd. Both face prison time. The jury found that West acted with criminal negligence when she did not seek medical attention for the 16-month old foster child in her care. Pathologists determined that the little girl, Emily, died of blunt-force trauma to her head. West claims that Emily fell backward and hit her head, which the defense doctors said was plausible. The state's doctors contended the injury was a result of being severely shaken or that Emily was struck with something in the head.

The principal of the school where West volunteered, Chad Knippen, agreed to be a character witness on behalf of Penny West, but was never actually called to do so at the trial. He explained that West has been helping the school for years with filing, copying and putting bulletin boards together. She did not work directly with the students.

Tight budgets are a large reason why schools utilize volunteers to assist them with many tasks. However, if schools become more reliant on volunteers, they also need to rely on background checks to protect children.

Volunteer Coach with Criminal Record Arrested Again

Antwan Burnell, a former player and volunteer for the North Charleston High School basketball team in South Carolina, was arrested this past weekend for driving under the influence and drug possession.

Because the school system implemented a new policy requiring background checks on volunteers, even without this arrest Burnell would have been banned from volunteering based on his multiple previous drug charges and the prison time he served for crack-cocaine possession.

Burnell played on the basketball team and helped them to a state championship in 1997. However, after graduation, he was arrested multiple times for drug possession and had a charge of aggravated assault. During the 2006-2007 school year, Burnell worked as a volunteer statistician for the basketball team.

School officials have stated that Burnell will not be allowed near the students at the high school and his previous record would have prevented him from coming back as a volunteer as they have begun the background check process.