Kudos to PIAA officials for seeing the light! Better late than never.
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — All new athletic officials in Pennsylvania will have to undergo criminal background checks under a proposal approved unanimously today in an initial vote by the state’s high school sports regulatory authority.
In a second vote, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s board ordered its staff to create a long-term plan that could lead to implementation of phased-in background checks on all of the state’s 13,700 officials.
The proposals were in response to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation which found dozens of current and former athletic officials in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League continued to work contests despite being convicted of child molestation and pornography charges, gambling offenses, and drug, gun and other crimes.
The proposal for requiring background checks for new officials as early as February 2009 must undergo two more votes that will conclude in January 2009.
Previous blog posts:
Pittsburgh Newspaper Reports Sports Officials Have Criminal Records
UPDATE: Proposed Legislation May Require Background Checks For PIAA
