Grand Jury recommends state Department of Justice and FBI
checks; schools and city comply
If a sex offender, registered in any state other than California, applied to coach a local youth sports team last year, chances are he or she would be hired.
But following the recent release of a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury investigation, that’s changing.
Findings from the investigation completed in June revealing major holes in sex offender screening policy throughout the county have left several local youth athletic organizations scrambling to improve their background checking techniques for sports coaches.
“I would say (the grand jury report) was a wake-up call,” said Linda Pacino, the Gilroy Unified School District’s assistant superintendent in charge of human resources. “We are doing everything we can to change our policy as quickly as possible.”
Responding to a number of external complaints, the Civil Grand Jury inquired into the hiring policies and procedures of a random selection of public schools and parks and recreation departments throughout the county – including the Morgan Hill Parks and Recreation Department. The Grand Jury found that the majority of county organizations rely solely on the state Department of Justice to complete background checks for coaches – meaning only criminal offenses committed in California would be revealed.
The Grand Jury’s recommendation is that both the state DOJ and the FBI’s national database be utilized to screen for sex offenders and other criminals when approving youth sports coaches. This would ensure that coaches with criminal offenses in different states don’t slip through the system.
“The grand jury wanted to know how many coaches we were using,” said Recreation Manager Julie Spier. “Right now the recreation division is being re-established and doesn’t have any. We haven’t focused on youth sports because of all the non-profit groups in town.”
The city recreation department has only a handful of employees, but plans to comply with the recommendation.
“In the past all employees and volunteers have been checked through Life Span, the state fingerprinting check,” said Human Resources Director Mary Kaye Fisher. “The grand jury recommendation is that we send those also through the FBI check. We’re exploring how to do that right now. We’re going to follow the recommendations. We feel it is a good idea.”
All recreation employees and others around kids are currently required to have DOJ checks. There are only about six or seven temporary summer employees each year, Fisher said.
“I don’t know how long they take,” Fisher said. “Right now none of our volunteers or employees are allowed to work unsupervised with anyone until the state checks come back. There has always got to be someone there – one of our regular employees. I don’t see it having a huge impact on us. It would just become part of the employment process. Fingerprints are already being taken so it would be just an extra step.”
Fisher couldn’t say if there would be any additional time or expense involved.
“Sometimes the number rises a little in the summer as we have to hire new people,” Fisher said. “We are hoping, as the recreation program grows, we can hire new people and get bigger. Right now we are real tiny.”
Both DOJ and FBI checks are nothing new to the Morgan Hill Unified School District, according to Denise Tate, the assistant supervisor of Human Resources.
“We use both the DOJ and the FBI checks for every single employee and have at least for the four years I have been here,” Tate said. “We do not allow a person into a school without it. I thought it has been state law for a number of years.”
Each potential employee is required to have his or her fingerprints on file with the Sheriff’s department where the prints are taken with Life Span technology. There is no more inking and re-inking in order to get a good print with the live scan system. The finger prints can be seen instantly on a computer, and processing time is significantly reduced. The $72 per applicant cost, which covers both checks, is covered by the school district. It allocates about $18,000 each year toward the cost, Tate said.
Before the budget cutbacks, there would be about 60 new teachers a year going through the process and more than 200 total employees, Tate said.
“Normally we can get information on perspective employees within 72 hours,” Tate said. “There are times when people’s fingerprints are delayed up to 30 days. Initially they pay $12 at the Sheriff’s department to get the process started, but they are reimbursed.”
Because most of the city’s recreation programs like Pop Warner and Pony Baseball are run by non-profit groups, parents are leaned on heavily to keep the programs going.
“We will call the police to see if the person is a registered sex offender,” said Pony Baseball president Roy Jackson. “Most of the coaches we get are parents of the kids, so we don’t want to scare them away with a lot of questions. It would be a little different if they were paid.”
Pride Softball of Morgan Hill has a more extensive check for its coaches.
“We approve all the coaches using the Life Scan background check,” said Pride organizer Debbie Adamo. “It turns out a lot are already involved in public service so they have already been finger printed.”
Pride also tries to have a female chaperone present at all times.
“We’ve been really lucky because we have had a great pool of coaches to pick from that people know from college or high school or Spirit,” Adamo said. “We go by references and see what their experience is. We will poll parents to see what they are like.”
Although the Grand Jury investigation focused on public school’s and city leagues, private youth sports leagues have come under some of the heaviest heat lately. On April 2, Quintin Lamarcas Daye, a 44-year-old Gilroy resident who helped coach a private, Gilroy summer-league girls basketball team was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor. A Los Gatos soccer coach was also recently arrested for felony sexual assault on a minor after he was found in a parked car with a teenage member of his team.
Details: To review the Megan’s Law CD visit the Morgan Hill Police Department from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 17605 Monterey Road or visit the Gilroy Police Department from 9 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays or 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. The CD is also available from Megan’s Law records can be accessed by phone by calling (900) 448-3000; there is a 10 cent charge for two names.
