Township Overhauls Background Checks for Youth Sports Coaches

South Brunswick is seeking to simplify the process for coaches in the various township youth sports leagues by modifying the process for background checks.

At its meeting last week, the Township Council passed a resolution authorizing an agreement with the National Center for Safety Initiatives, LLC, for criminal history background check services. The new agreement means coaches of more than one team for the different township sports organizations will only need to get one background check instead of a different check for each sport they coach.

"Our organizations in town do background checks on different coaches, but if there's a coach for three of our different organizations then that's three different costs," said Councilman Joseph Camarota. "We're going to begin running background checks through one organization."

In the future, if the SBAA pays $40 for a background check on one coach, that check would be valid if the same coach also volunteers for another organization like the SBPAL. Township officials said most youth organizations are now using the National Center for Safety Initiatives and the move is expected to save money and time for the youth groups.

The background checks would need to be done once every two years for each coach.

"This makes sense to me because after two years something might pop up in the background check," said Mayor Frank Gambatese.

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