PURPOSE
It is the intent of this policy to establish certain guidelines wherein the North Ridgeville Parks & Recreation Department (hereinafter referred to as “NRPRD”) and its affiliated community leagues can seek to protect our program participants by investigating the background of coaches and volunteers (hereinafter referred to as “candidates”) who will be involved in NRPRD approved programs
GENERAL
A. Criminal background screenings are conducted by an outside third party who specializes in such work.
B. Any person who has been found guilty, pled guilty; or pled no contest, regardless of adjudication, or has a pending charge pertaining to, any of the disqualifying offenses listed in this policy will be immediately disqualified from coaching and or volunteer positions with NRPRD or an associated community league. NRPRD also reserves the right to disqualify a person for any crime that would be considered a potential risk to children and / or vulnerable populations. A candidate who willfully fails to comply with this background screening policy shall be automatically disqualified.
C. This policy will apply to all NRPRD candidates. If there is any doubt as to who should be screened, the general rule is anyone who would potentially have unsupervised access to children in a NRPRD approved program. NRPRD part-time year round employees will be screened prior to their start of employment. Seasonal employees will be screened annually. Each candidate will be screened every 24 months for as long as he or she continues participating in NRPRD programming.
The criminal background screening is mandatory, there are no exceptions.
SCREENING PROCESS
All candidates must sign a Release for Criminal History which gives BIB the right to check criminal history records and verify social security numbers. This release and screening is executed directly, through www.bib.com, and the secure URL at which candidates can execute their NRPRD background check is:
The cost associated with these background screenings will be paid for by the NRPRD.
No other personal information (ex: work history, financial, credit, etc.) is checked or researched. The company executing background checks has agreed to such terms contractually, and confirms such direction annually.
The third party contractor conducting the checks will cross-reference the screening results with the disqualifying crimes listed in this policy. A “Applicant Meets Guidelines” grade for any candidate that has zero disqualifying crime matches, or a “Applicant Does Not Meet Guidelines” grade for any candidate that has one or more disqualifying crime matches. All information pertaining to the background check will remain with the third party contractor, subject to the applicable laws requiring disclosure.
If any disqualifying offenses are reported in the background check, the Parks and Recreation Department staff will notify the volunteer that they are disqualified. It will be the responsibility of the Parks and Recreation Department staff to find another volunteer to take over the duties.
CONFIDENTIALITY
To help ensure confidentiality, the Parks and Recreation Department staff that received information during a candidates screening process will not be disclosed outside the organization and will be shared within the organization only on a “need to know” basis. The criminal background checks will be maintained and secured as confidential records.
APPEALS PROCESS
If a candidate’s background check includes a charge set forth on the list of disqualfiers below, the Parks and Recreation Department shall immediately disqualify a person. There shall be no appeal of a decision to disqualify a candidate, if the candidate’s relevant criminal history is accurate; all decisions are final.
If a candidate wishes to dispute the content of the profile report, the candidate shall contact the third party responsible for conducting the background check by calling the telephone number listed on the report. The candidate is responsible for providing any or all documentation to support his or her claim.
DISQUALIFYING CRIMES
If a candidate (1) has been convicted of, (2) has a charge pending against him or her in which it is alleged that he or she has committed any of the following crimes, or (3) has a record of a conviction of an equivalent offense in another state, the candidate will be disqualified from the position with any program approved by NRPRD.
SEX OFFENSES
- All Sex Offenses – Regardless of the amount of time since offense.
Examples include, but are not limited to: child molestation, rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sodomy, prostitution, solicitation, indecent exposure, etc.
FELONIES
- All Felony Violence – Regardless of the amount of time since offense.
Examples include, but are not limited to: murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, kidnapping, robbery, aggravate burglary, etc.
- All Felony offenses other than violence or sex within the past 10 years.
Examples include, but are not limited to: drug offenses, theft, embezzlement, fraud, child endangerment, etc.
MISDEMEANORS
- All misdemeanor violence offenses within the past 7 years
Examples include, but not limited to: simple assault, battery, domestic violence, hit & run, etc.
- All misdemeanor drug & alcohol offenses within the past 5 years or multiple offenses in the past 10 years.
Examples include, but not limited to: driving under the influence, simple drug possession, drunk and disorderly, public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia, etc.
- Any other misdemeanor within the past 5 years that would be considered a potential danger to children or is directly related to the functions of that volunteer.
Examples include, but are not limited to: contributing to the delinquency of a minor, providing alcohol to a minor, theft – if person is handling monies etc.
WHY THESE CRIMES?
The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) has reviewed the resources of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners and sought the counsel of recognized background screening experts to develop a set of Recommended Guidelines for Volunteer Background Screening in parks and recreation settings. These guidelines were produced as a result of this review.
