Thanks to a policy change by the Philadelphia School District, every school volunteer will have to undergo three background checks costing a total of $70.
And that may put the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project - run by Civic House, Penn's community service center - in jeopardy.
Regardless of whether students or Civic House foot the bill, the magnitude of the costs involved could threaten the existence of the program or severely reduce its scope.
If Civic House can't cover the costs of background checks, University officials should step in and provide the necessary funding to keep the program at its current size.
WPTP has long been the hallmark of Penn's community partnerships. The University is rightfully proud of a program that has placed 300 volunteers in 17 regional schools to develop one-on-one mentoring relationships with city students. If WPTP needs funding, administrators shouldn't shy away from supporting a program that has given students and community members so much.
Maintaining the program at its current level will prove costly, but Penn can't put a price on its commitment to engaging locally.
Editorial | Follow-Up
This week, the University launched a new course-search and scheduling application that makes finding and signing up for classes much easier.
As we noted last fall, updates to the archaic PennInTouch system are long overdue. Still, we applaud administrators and student leaders for taking a great first step. If this recent improvement is any indication of the changes to come, we can't wait.
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