Former Teacher and Coach Accused of Statutory Rape

A teacher and coach at a Christian school in Columbia County, Florida was charged with having sex with one of his 17-year-old students. Richard Parrish, 32, who also acts as a minister, coached the young girl in three sports. He exploited this relationship with her and is accused of sex with a minor.

Columbia County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Laurie Windham said, "This is a case where a male authority figure, perhaps a role model, to a young lady, took advantage of the influence he had over her, developed a relationship and it's just inappropriate."

Although the principal of the academy claims the school does extensive background checks, he refused to go on record or appear on camera. It is unclear whether or not Parrish has any prior criminal record.

School Districts Vary on Requiring Background Checks

Public school volunteers sometimes must undergo background checks prior to working in the school -- sometimes they don't. In a recent article entitled, "Rules for screening parent volunteers vary by district," Shelly Leachman writes, "Although every district tries to ensure parents with tuberculosis are blocked at the classroom door, some aren't as vigilant when it comes to sex offenders." Sadly, more attention is given to health concerns than to violent and heinous criminal histories.

Mark Kenneth Vasquez had been working in his child's classroom this year until parent's of his child's classmates recognized him from the Megan's Law Website. How is it that a sexual predator can walk up to a school, volunteer, and interact directly with vulnerable children in our society?

In El Segundo and Los Angeles Unified School Districts in California, a TB test is the only requirement for in-class volunteers. According to the CDC, there are approximately 14,093 known tuberculosis cases in the US as of 2005. This represents approximately 0.0048% of the population. In contrast, according to state Megan's laws sites, there are approximately 364,545 registered sex offenders, representing approximately 0.1275% of our population. Statistically the average citizen is nearly 27 times more likely to be a sexual predator than a tuberculosis sufferer.

It's time to face these frightening statistics. Contact your school district and find out their policy on background checks for teachers, non-teaching staff, and all volunteers. The only way we can ensure the safety of our children is if we try.

An Innovative Volunteer Screening Policy

In Washington, the Longview Parks and Recreation Department has decided to institute a new high-tech background check procedure for its volunteers. Known as “Operation TLC2: Making Communities Safe”, it will become one of the 30 or so organizations around the country to implement this type of program.

According to Superintendent Dick Mueller, taking this step is “just being pro-active”. Furthermore, he states “the goal, as always, is to provide quality volunteers and the city does have a good volunteer program. What this does is enhance the program, not only through more background screening, but through training and other resources.”

“Operation TLC2: Making Communities Safe” is a program organized by the National Recreation and Park Association. It will provide criminal record searches, photo identification for screened volunteers and in-depth training for volunteer coaches. Mueller also clarifies that the “difference with this (TLC2) is that it’s for all volunteers, whether it’s for sports or working with seniors or working the developmentally disabled.”

In 2005 alone, the Longview organization utilized 464 volunteers who donated over 6,726 hours.

Effective Volunteer help leads to the Ongoing Success of an NGO

Because they often assist those who less fortunate, non-profit organizations (NGO’s) highly rely on volunteer help to do business. However, these NGO’s know the importance of obtaining qualified help and often institute background screening policies to do so. By incurring this initial cost of a background check, they safeguard against putting those they help in harms way.

The Florida Guardian ad Litem Program is once such organization that has adopted this type of policy. A state program that advocates for abused and neglected children in the court system, the Guardian ad Litem Program aims to achieve 100 percent representation. With the help of many volunteers, this program already represents approximately 30,000 children. However, over 43,000 children are under the Department of Children and Family supervision and involved in court proceedings. Thus, in order to reach this goal, the program is in need of volunteer help.

Although volunteer participation is a necessity and high priority, the organization does not cut any corners which might jeopardize the safety of the children it assists. Each volunteer goes through a screening process, which includes a criminal background check, interview, and two written character references. Any individuals who have a criminal record of a felony, a judicial finding of guilt for a crime against a person, or history of abuse or neglect of a child or adult are ineligible for the program.

These background screening requirements enable the Program to find effective and legitimate volunteer help, and takes it one step closer to meeting its’ goal.

Discounted Screening Services Available!

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Volunteer Firefighters Commit Arson

Shockingly enough the firefighting industry is now faced with the fact that firefighters are setting fires. A recent investigation reveled that two volunteers with the Pike Road Fire Department were to blame for15 arson cases in the pastoral town of Pike Road, Alabama.

Lou Hyman, the assistant director of the Alabama Forestry Commission, said that firefighters committing such crimes is not common, but it does happen, stating that “the adrenaline rush of fighting a fire is somewhat addicting…if they don’t have one, they start one.”.

Similarly, in the early 1990’s, the South Carolina Forestry Commission was faced with dozens of fires set by firefighters. Ken Cabe, the commission’s information officer, compiled statistics and found that the number of firefighters arrested for arson jumped from 33 in 1993 to 47 in 1994. “Most of these people were not bad people ,” he said. “They were not out to hurt people.”

In addition, the National Volunteer Fire Council established a subcommittee to conduct a national survey on this issue in 1993 and concluded that better background screening of applicants could prevent firefighter arson, especially among volunteers. Cabe said South Carolina drastically reduced the number of firefighter arrests for arson by taking such measures. The state went from averaging 30 per year to only three.

Fire departments need to take precautionary measures, such as performing background checks, to ensure the safety of the city in which they are trying to protect.

Tulsa Public Schools Widen Realm of Background Checks

Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) recently adopted a new program that will broaden the realm of their background checks on both volunteers and applicants. Previously, TPS only conducted background searches at a statewide level. Now, the searches will be more extensive, having volunteer and applicants be screened against the National Sex Offender Registry. In addition, TPS will also require a more in depth, multi-state, criminal background check be completed.

The new program was developed in response to the arrests of two Tulsa school bus drivers during the first two weeks of the 2005-06 school year. Patrick Jess Rodriguez was jailed for outstanding traffic warrants after he was caught speeding by police while driving a Tulsa school bus. The other, Barre Kirk McGowen, was taken in for driving under the influence, after police found his school bus, full of students, stopped in the middle of the intersection. Apparently he told police that he had injected “crank” several hours before.

As a result, both bus drivers were fired and TPS, starting on December 1, 2006, began using this new background screening standard for volunteers and applicants. Thankfully, more schools systems, such as TPS, are creating policies which mandate extensive background checks on all people who would be in contact and/or responsible for children.