Press Release, Florham Park, NJ

October 24, 2009

A new Florham Park program will mandate volunteer coach background checks in 2010, to provide an extra measure of protection for youth participating in recreational sports, without putting any cost burdens on either taxpayers or the volunteers.

“When the Florham Park Recreation Committee recommended mandatory criminal background checks for coaches in our youth sports programs last year, there was a discussion of who would pay for it,” said Mayor Scott Eveland. “I didn’t want to put this burden on the volunteers who give of themselves so generously, or on the backs of taxpayers.”

Eveland lauded Florham Park Recreation Director Adam Lieb for taking the initiative to obtain an $8,000 grant from the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation, which will pay for background checks for the estimated 300 coaches who will begin volunteering next year. Lieb said he is developing plans with the various sports clubs to get their coaches checked before their respective seasons next year, starting in spring 2010.

“If there is something in the criminal history of a coach not appropriate for someone who is working with children, then we need to know about it,” said Lieb, who learned of the grant program while attending a state League of Municipalities workshop on “Protecting our Children from Sexual Predators,” held at Mercer County Community College on May 8, 2009. “The borough and parents put our trust in volunteer coaches who spend a lot of unsupervised time with children,” Lieb noted.

Florham Park Police Captain Robert Treiber worked with the Recreation Committee and its liaison to the governing body, Councilman David Wikstrom, to develop a municipal ordinance. The new law requires a background check for anyone 18 years of age or older who participates as an employee or volunteer with any program serving minors that is sponsored by the Recreation Department or that is granted charter status or organized by the borough. Borough Council introduced the ordinance on Aug. 18 and .adopted it on Sept. 15.

The New Jersey State Police administer the background check program, through contracted private agencies, Treiber reported. He said for this area checks are done through a facility in Parsippany, where fingerprints are taken and digitally scanned for comparisons to Federal Bureau of Investigation and State Police Bureau of Investigation records.

Grounds for disqualification include conviction for any crime or offence involving violence, or against children, involving theft, or involving any controlled dangerous substance, according to Trieber. He said specifics of the disqualifying information aren’t released to the borough unless the prospective coach-applicant appeals the accuracy of the determination to the Borough Administrator and the Recreation Director..

Although Treiber said he is not aware of any detrimental information that was uncovered by these background checks in other jurisdictions where they already have been put in place, he believes individuals who may be unsuitable to work with children have been dissuaded from applying for such positions when the background checks are in place. He reported results come back in 24 to 48 hours.

“The background check acts as a deterrent,” Treiber said. “If someone knows about the check they are not going to apply and submit fingerprints.”

The recreation director said the use of background checks for individuals who would work with children is “a trend across the state and country now.” He said a similar ordinance had been in place in neighboring East Hanover Township.

Lieb said the background checks involve “plusses and minuses.” They protect parents concerned about the safety of children in recreation programs, but the checks also may limit the willingness of some qualified volunteers to participate, he said.

Florham Park-based sports programs that utilize volunteer coaches include boys and girls teams in basketball, lacrosse, baseball, soccer and tennis, as well as boys programs in football and girls programs in cheerleading, Lieb said.

Mayor Eveland said the Florham Park Recreation Committee consists of Chairman Scott Carpenter, Secretary Marlene Rawson, and members Chris Healey, Rick Zeien, Joe Guerin, Joe DeFina, Peggy Simmons, Carrie Kenner and Lieb, with Wikstrom as Council liaison.

Lieb said the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation is a charitable organization set up by the Kanka family to ensure every possible step is taken to prevent the victimization of children. Their lives were shattered, he said, when their seven-year-old daughter Megan was lured into a neighbor’s home in Hamilton Township, where the convicted sex offender raped and murdered her.