Peety said:
WHY ? Whom are they protecting (shielding)? Certainly not the children !!!!
Well, not knowing the laws in MN regarding background checks, I can only assume that MN - like CA - generally prohibits "background checks" for employment or volunteer purposes. The school district or the law enforcement agency could check the Sex Offender registration records that are accessable to the general public, but the law enforcement agency could not reveal any information found on Criminal History Offender records without violating state or federal laws.
In CA there are generally two ways to do this.
(1) The volunteers or the school district can pay for the volunteer to agree to have his prints taken and submitted for a check of state and FBI criminal offender records. If these records reveal any prohibited offense (one that would prevent them from lawfully performing the activity with the children) then it would come back with a 'hit'. However, being a registered sex offender is not an offense and this would not likely come back on the district's response. However, the district would be able to review the public sex offender registration database at a local law enforcement agency.
(2) The volunteer could submit to a private background check through a private agency. This may include public records - including sex offender files. However, these checks can be incomplete as some counties do not have all their court records on computers so many records might not be accessable.
In CA local law enforcement cannot just do willy-nilly "background checks" on school volunteers. My guess it that they cannot do so in MN either. There are a number of federal and state laws in place that restrict access to, and the use of, information obtained through NCIC (and for CA, CLETS).
So, I doubt anyone was trying to protect or hide anything ... the chief was more than likely simply trying to comply with the law.
On a side note - In the school district where my children attend school, the principal at the elementary school has a simple process ... she asks me (off duty) or my wife if I (we) would let my children go with a particular individual. If the answer is, "No" ... well ... then we usually have to find another chaperone.
Carl