Beginning this week, volunteers in Ohio schools and other organizations who have regular, unsupervised access to children might be subject to state criminal background checks.

        The law, which goes into effect Thursday, requires organizations to notify volunteers that they may have to undergo the records sweep.

        “I think they all should be police-checked,” said Miriam West, director of Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Mentoring Program. “I think we owe it to our parents because they are trusting us with their children.”

        Since beginning its mentoring program in 1990, the nonprofit youth collaborative has required criminal and traffic background checks from Hamilton County and Cincinnati police for its more than 1,500 volunteers, Ms. West said.

        Ohio Sen. Bruce E. Johnson, R-Westerville, who sponsored the law, said it covers about a third of the territory it originally proposed.

        Still, “It's a step in the right direction,” he said.

        Kentucky last July began requiring state criminal records checks of adult volunteers who have regular contact or who supervise children at a school or on school-sponsored trips.

        Some school officials have voiced concerns that requiring background checks or even the threat of background checks could deter volunteers.

        However, the number of volunteers in Campbell County schools more than doubled after the Northern Kentucky district began its own background checks for volunteers in fall 1999, said spokesman Chris Gramke.

        Lebanon City schools in Warren County also require background checks and fingerprinting for school volunteers who have regular con tact with children.

        The cost amounts to $2,000 to $3,000 a year, said Superintendent Bill Sears.

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