The Article below was posted on the USA Swimming website Tuesday, July 27th after the conclusion of special meeting of the Board of Directors held specifically to discuss the issues of athlete protection.
Valued members, volunteers and swimming families,
In a special meeting held today in Newark, N.J., the USA Swimming Board of Directors and select staff met with independent experts from the Child Welfare League of America, to approve actions and put forth proposed legislation aimed at improving and expanding USA Swimming’s athlete protection efforts.
We remain committed to creating the safest environment possible for our members, and for that reason, we continue to work with appropriate experts to expand and improve our athlete protection programming. We are pleased to report the following progress.
Today, the USA Swimming Board of Directors voted to put forth legislation for the September House of Delegates meeting that would:
· Approve the newly-drafted “Athlete Protection Policies” and add these policies to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct.
· Require that all adults who serve a local club in a role that provides direct interaction with athletes become members of USA Swimming;
· Expand mandatory background checks to include all non-athlete members of USA Swimming;
· Require all USA Swimming member Clubs to complete a series of pre-employment screening actions prior to hiring any coach;
Because the above bullet points require changes to USA Swimming rules, they must go to the USA Swimming House of Delegates for formal vote at the annual U.S. Aquatic Sports Convention in September.
The Board-approved Athlete Protection Policies will now be put forth as legislation which would add them to USA Swimming’s existing Code of Conduct. Violations of the Code of Conduct are cause for discipline up to and including permanent expulsion from membership.
The expansion of the background screening requirement would add all club employees, board members and any volunteer who is in a supervisory role over athletes (e.g. chaperones). This will require over 30,000 additional background screens per year. Additionally, the proposed legislation would revamp USA Swimming’s background screening criteria and database usage, and would replace the bi-annual checks with a “real-time” or continuously updated check, as per the recommendations of background screening firm Nadell Investigations.
If passed in September, the pre-employment screening requirement would mandate that member clubs go through a series of checks when hiring any coach, employee or volunteer who would be in a supervisory position over athletes. To assist clubs in fulfilling this requirement, USA Swimming has committed to identifying an independent service and volume discount, available to conduct these screens for clubs.
In addition to the legislation items above, the Board formally adopted “Best Practice Guidelines for Coach Behavior.” These guidelines do not require a vote of the House of Delegates, and will be added to USA Swimming’s policy manual on September 19, 2010. These guidelines will work in tandem with the new Athlete Protection Policies. The documents can be found here.
The Board also approved a proposed policy that USA Swimming report any accusation of sexual misconduct involving a minor to law enforcement, and that USA Swimming will, after offering a due process hearing, add individuals who are no longer members, but who are found to have committed misconduct or who refuse a hearing, to its suspended-for-life-list.
Lastly, following a presentation by CWLA, the Board gave direction to USA Swimming to continue to work with the child welfare group to develop educational resources for coaches, officials, athletes, clubs and parents. This programming is expected to be complete by early 2011.
We have made great strides in the past months, and we will continue to work until we have the best possible athlete protection programming in place.
As always, we thank you for standing with us.
Sincerely,
Jim Wood, President
Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director
