Vision 2030

Vision 2030 highlights that involvement by parents, community members and the business community is essential to the success of San Diego Unified and its students. As we continue to create quality schools in every neighborhood and establish them as neighborhood learning centers, participation from our families, community members and business partners is more important and necessary than ever. There are a many ways for interested individuals and organizations to get involved at both the school site and district levels.

Opportunities to Volunteer at School Sites

Opportunities at the school site level include, but are not limited to the following. If you are interested in getting involved at a school site, please contact the school directly to learn about all available opportunities.

  • Parent Advisory Committees
  • Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Foundation, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
  • Partnerships
  • School Site Council (SSC)
  • Site Governance Team (SGT)
  • Volunteer

Opportunities to Volunteer at District Level

Opportunities at the district level include, but are not limited to the following. Details about these opportunities are listed below.

Getting Started

All schools are asked to designate a School Site Volunteer Coordinator. All volunteer work must be done under the direction of an assigned teacher, site volunteer coordinator, principal or vice principal. Volunteers must comply with the district’s volunteer screening requirements.

Community members interested in volunteering should:

  1. Comply with appropriate volunteer screening requirements.
  2. Complete and return a school volunteer application to the site and/or department of interest.
  3. Read and acknowledge understanding of the Volunteer Code of Conduct.
  4. Provide Adult Tuberculosis (TB) Risk Assessment Questionnaire OR results of Tuberculin skin test.
  5. For category C and D complete a request to conduct volunteer screening form.
  6. For category D Volunteer Live Scan Process.

Volunteer Program Guidelines

Volunteers and SDUSD Staff Welcome to the Volunteer Program Guidelines.

The Volunteer Program Guidelines provide support and guidance to schools to help them facilitate their parent and community engagement programs. Currently, nearly 30,000 volunteers work in a variety of capacities in the San Diego Unified School District.

These volunteers — parents, guardians, grandparents, business/community partners, community members, the military, K-12 and college students, senior citizens, and others – represent the economic, social, racial, religious and educational backgrounds within the San Diego community.

Volunteers act in a variety of capacities, including tutors/mentors, provide assistance in the classroom, participate as senior exhibition panel members, participate on business/community partnership advisory boards, assist in the main office, in the library/media centers and with fundraising efforts for school foundations, and scholarships.

Administrative Procedure 4595 outlines procedures for school volunteer programs. In order to provide students with a safe environment and allow for a variety of opportunities for volunteering, volunteer participation is classified into four categories. Depending on the category, certain screening processes must be completed by district staff prior to volunteering.

Some Updates You Should Be Aware of:

  • TB Screening Protocol Changes: On September 15, 2014, the governor of California signed into law new TB testing rules for schools.  Assembly Bill 1667 regulates staff and volunteer testing at schools for tuberculosis.  SD Council of PTA has been working with the Family Engagement Team to update the current district rules to comply with the state law. Starting now, the first step in becoming a school volunteer is to process an Adult Tuberculosis Risk Assessment Questionnaire.  The SDUSD Nursing Department has put into place plans on how nursing staff will assist in facilitating this questionnaire for volunteers.  

Category A Volunteer


  • Visitor or guest for one-time event
  • No unsupervised exposure or contact with students

    Examples:
  • Read Across America guest reader
  • Principal for a Day participant
  • Guest/resource speaker or classroom presentation
  • Senior exhibition panel member
  • One-time volunteer for school/classroom event
  • Parents eating lunch with their child

    Screening Requirements:
  • Sponsored or approved by site or district employee
  • Show ID to site
  • Sign in at site
  • Wear name badge on site
  • Parents participating in parent involvement activity such as “Family Friday”

Category B Volunteer


  • Group exposure with direct staff supervision
  • Classroom exposure supervised by district staff
  • Open/public setting/classrooms where staff/adults can observe at all times
  • Always within unobstructed view
  • No solitary time with students

    Examples:
  • Classroom assistance, tutoring or reading
  • School police parent patrol volunteers
  • Non-classroom volunteers (office, PTA, SSC, Foundation)

    Screening Requirements:
  • Sponsored or approved by site or district employee
  • Show ID to site
  • Sign in at site
  • Wear name badge on site
  • Submit district school volunteer application
  • Megan’s Law Database check (done by site staff)
  • Obtain TB clearance

Category C Volunteer (Not applicable during Online Learning)


  • Unsupervised time with students only while on district property with district personnel on site
  • Time with student(s) in areas outside of classroom where staff/adults can observe most times
  • Occasional short periods of solitary time with students and short duration of obstructed view

    Examples:
  • On-site tutoring outside of the classroom (i.e., OASIS tutoring program, Cal-SOAP)

    Screening Requirements:
  • Sponsored or approved by site or district employee
  • Show ID to site
  • Sign in at site
  • Wear name badge on site
  • Submit district school volunteer application
  • Category C Background Check 
  • Obtain TB clearance

Category D Volunteer (Not applicable during Online Learning)