By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Board of Education updated its policy regarding criminal background checks for contracted school services during a special meeting Thursday.
The school district will not hire anyone who has contact with students unless they have a background check.
The change is in response to an incident in April when Zachary Gibson, a strength and conditioning coach working with Bowling Green High School students was found to have had a previous conviction for disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. His criminal background was discovered after an allegation was made of inappropriate conduct with a student.
In June, he was indicted by the Wood County Grand Jury on five counts including sexual battery, illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity oriented material or performance, and attempted illegal use of minor or impaired person in nudity oriented material or performance.
At the time the allegations came to light, district administrators said that they do not conduct background checks on third-party contractors. The coach had been hired for the district through Fastrak Performance of Perrysburg. He was let go April 4 when the company learned of the allegations.
Families in the district were upset to find out that the individual had not undergone a criminal background check, especially since employees and volunteers of the district are required to have background checks. The board was urged to review and revise the district’s policy.
In response to the incident, Ginny Stewart, board member and liaison for policies, said she and Dawn Dazell, the district’s human resources administrator, looked through the policy to determine where changes could be made.
“We talked at great length about the areas we thought could provide improvements to our policy and provided that information to our legal counsel,” Stewart said.
The board approved the proposed policy revision as follows:
“Any person who is not an employee of the board or an employee of a private company under contract to provide essential school services who wishes to work with a student or student group of the BG City School District on the board’s property shall be required to submit to a criminal background check including information from the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation prior to being permitted to work with any Bowling Green City School District student on the board’s property.
“If the criminal records check indicates that the person who has been convicted of or pleaded to any offenses described in Division B1 of Section 3319.39 of the Revised Code, the person will not be permitted to work with any Bowling Green City School District student on the board’s property. In lieu of submitting to a criminal background check, the person described in this paragraph may provide the board with a certified copy of the results of a criminal background check conducted by BCII within the immediately preceding year.”
The policy goes into effect immediately and will be communicated to the entire district.
In other business, the board reiterated the change in the Pay to Play fees that were approved at the May 17 board meeting. The new fee structure is $75 per sport rather than $100 for the first sport, $75 for the second sport, and $50 third sport. The maximum dollar amount to be paid per family is $375, a $25 increase over the previous maximum amount.
Board member Ryan Myers clarified the fees are collected before the sport season begins.
Additionally Stewart stated that any child whose family cannot afford Pay to Play will be allowed to play. “We will not exclude anyone,” she said.
