National Organization Moves to offer Background Checks for Volunteers

With the help of several companies, the National Recreation and Park Association developed a new background screening program in order provide a safer environment for children. This new program screens both youth coaches and volunteers for criminal offenses as well as provides cleared individuals with proper photo ID cards before they coach on a field or volunteer in a senior citizen’s center.

“It all goes back to the whole desire for families to have a safe environment for kids to feel secure” said Joe Lindenmayer of Duluth, GA based TSS Photography, one of the program’s three founding companies.

To date, since the program’s launch last fall, more than 56,300 volunteers in 34 park districts across the country have been or are currently in the process of being screened. Thus far, the program has turned away 4,500 potential volunteers who have failed the background check due to sex offenses, violent crimes, or other felonies on their records.

Kathryn Reichert of the Ashburn, VA based Parks and Recreation Association stated, “There’s no other program that does both qualifying, credentialing with ID’s, and training…this is a focus on making communities safe…and the notion we are attracting the very best volunteers.”

Berkeley County, SC Passes Policy Requiring Background Checks on Volunteers

The Berkeley County School Board just approved a new policy Tuesday night mandating that school volunteers now have to undergo a State Law Enforcement Division background check. This policy applies to volunteers who mentor students, tutor one-on-one, or attend overnight functions with students.

Keith Kornahrens, a volunteer who reads with the students at Berkeley Intermediate School, states, “I think it’s a great idea. They’re predators everywhere, and children are the subject of those predators. I don’t mind submitting myself to a background check, and it makes me feel good to know that others do the same, that we’re protecting our kids from predators”.

Mike Shaw, the assistant principal at Berkeley Intermediate School, says it is a necessary step and adds, “We have approximately 75 to a 100 volunteers come in on a regular basis. We have to make sure. There is no le way for a problem to happen or for a student to have something to happen to them on school ground.”

Now that the policy is in effect, the district intends to have orientations, which will allow schools to become familiar with it. They are also planning to amend the volunteer application form to include information regarding the background check.

Classroom Volunteer Suspected of Molesting Two Students

In Contra Costa County, CA, the John Swett School District is re-evaluating its volunteer–screening policy following the arrest of Joseph Webb at Rodeo Hills Elementary on suspicion of molesting two boys while helping at a classroom party.

The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that Webb had inappropriate contact with two boys, ages 6 and 7. Webb was an infrequent volunteer at the school and so therefore never was required to complete a background check. When a deputy went to the school to investigate a report accusing a volunteer of having “inappropriate and unlawful contact with the children” he found Webb on the premises with a knife on him. Prior to his arrest, Webb had only volunteered once or twice at Rodeo Hills Elementary. Currently, he is being held at the county jail in Martinez.

Michael Roth, Superintendent of the district, stated “The district is cooperating fully with the investigation and taking what steps it can to support those involved.” The district conducts background checks on all volunteers who have regular contact with students. However, it does not have such a policy for occasional volunteers such as parents who help with parties or serve as chaperones on field trips.

“There’s some thinking going on as to whether or not it needs to be more rigorous,” Roth said. “Those are the types of questions that need to be considered.”