In Bucks County, PA, the Bucks County Courier Times reports on how “Parents urge board to make background checks a must.” Here’s what’s going on.
Pennsylvania laws require employees of schools and daycare centers submit to background checks. It requires foster parents to get checked. The idea is that people in those positions have privileged access to children.
But the state laws don’t cover coaches and other people working with sports teams, even though they have the same access to children. That’s why the Upper Southampton Board of Supervisors took up the issue and wound up passing a resolution to require background checks on people who work with children in the sports organizations that use public property.
The local sports organizations showed up at the Supervisors’ meeting to voice support for the resolution. But they had some concerns that “the background check results might take too long, not allowing coaches to be out on the field for practices and games.”
That shouldn’t be a concern. First, getting the appropriate background checks is an easy and straightforward process these days. Second, getting the checks done in time is more a matter or administrative procedure than anything. Third, it’s more important to keep kids safe than it is to get coaches on the field.
Finally, the Supervisors allowed for the fact that an organization might be caught short on time in exceptional circumstances. According to the article “if the activity has started, the organization needs to obtain the required clearance as soon as possible.”
The regulations are a big step toward keeping township children who participate in sports programs safe. They take into account the concerns of the sports organizations that will be using township facilities. What would make this even better is if they required a check every year.