The Recreation Commission discussed moving to a centralized database system for completing criminal background checks for coaches of all town-sanctioned teams.
Ryan Oulette, president of the Wildcats youth football and spirit club, said Monday night he would like to see all sports groups in the Town complete their background checks for coaches through one national database to achieve cost savings and eliminate the need for coaches of multiple sports teams to be subjected to multiple background checks.
“Everyone I have spoken with seems to be on board,” Oulette said.
But Recreation Director Art Psaledas said most organizations he has spoken with seem to want to conduct background checks separately.
“We do our own, we only have three coaches,” Londonderry Blue Lions President Glenn Douglas said, expressing reservations about going to a centralized database system. “It’s hard enough getting your own background checks done and all the paperwork that goes along with that.”
Psaledas said he would be willing to keep a spreadsheet to centralize information for all the organizations in town to use.
Town Council liaison Joe Green said it would be best for the organizations to utilize one service, leaving the liability on the provider rather than on the Town.
Oulette noted having a centralized system would relieve teams and coaches when that coach has already completed a background check for another town-sanctioned team. If they’re already in the database, there’s no need to spend the time and money to complete a new background check – unless their background check has expired.
Oulette said he has no particular preference for which database the organizations would use, as long as it’s a national database, which would point out a coach moving around the country committing crimes. Generally, databases that aren’t national don’t find all the criminal records of such individuals.
Green suggested Oulette contact all other club presidents in town for a more formal discussion about his proposal to move to a centralized database.