Closing a School Safety Gap: Train Vendors and Volunteers
Coaches. Tutors. Bus drivers. Custodians. After-school staff. Crossing guards. Chaperones. And more.
These adults are part of the fabric of school life, working side-by-side with district employees and often building trusted relationships with students. Most bring genuine dedication and a positive influence.
But many aren’t actually school employees. They’re vendor staff or volunteers who may have frequent, and sometimes unsupervised, contact with students. They also play another key role: as bystanders and witnesses, they’re in a unique position to notice concerns and report misconduct when it happens.
Background checks and basic orientation are important, but they’re not enough. To truly safeguard students, vendors and volunteers need training on your school’s reporting procedures, nondiscrimination policies, and expectations for professional boundaries.
An Illustration of the Problem
While leading Chicago Public Schools’ Sexual Allegations Unit, Campus Integrity Group’s founders directed nearly 140 investigations involving vendor employees and volunteers. The outcomes were eye-opening: close to 40% substantiated misconduct.
Of the 53 substantiated cases, 31 involved sexual harassment and abuse and 22 uncovered professional boundary violations. This includes:
A tutoring vendor who sent sexually explicit messages to a 13-year-old student and pled guilty to Indecent Solicitation of a Child.
A volunteer coach who groomed a 13 year old student, but was not criminally charged. The evidence established that he told the student he “loved” her, encouraged her to lie to her parents, asked her to go to a movie with him so he could hold her hand, and had extensive late night phone communications with the student.
A vendor security guard who discussed genitalia and condoms with a high school student, and told them that they needed to be with a “grown man.”
Beyond the bad actors, our work revealed another concern: some volunteers and vendor staff simply didn’t know what kinds of issues should be reported to the district, or how to report them. This gap goes beyond Title IX compliance and liability; it leaves students vulnerable when potential misconduct is left unchecked.
And this is not a Chicago problem. It affects districts nationwide.
Why Customized Training Matters
When adults don’t understand the rules, boundaries, or reporting requirements, even well-intentioned actions can put students at risk. Worse, serious misconduct may go unnoticed or unreported.
While vendors and volunteers often receive training on their specific job duties or roles, which is important, they also need guidance on how to interact appropriately with students. Clear expectations around boundaries, mandated reporting, and safeguarding responsibilities are essential for creating a safe school environment.
We also recognize that vendors and volunteers come in many forms, with varying levels of interaction with students. Training requirements can be tailored to make sure adults receive the right level of preparation to keep students safe, without discouraging volunteers through cumbersome requirements that don’t match their contributions.
A Path Toward Safer Schools
When every adult who interacts with students understands the rules, expectations, and reporting obligations, schools create a safer environment where misconduct is harder to hide.
At Campus Integrity Group, we bring more than a decade of experience investigating and preventing K-12 staff misconduct. We’ve seen the risks, we know the policies, and we understand what works in practice.
We help districts design vendor and volunteer training programs and put oversight systems in place that both protect students and reduce liability. Just as importantly, we support schools in investigating allegations, strengthening training, and ensuring compliance — so every adult who works with your students is prepared, accountable, and part of a safer school community.
