Auditor General DePasquale Urges Edinboro U. Officials to Redouble Efforts to Complete Background Checks on Summer Camp Workers

June 13 2013

Auditor General DePasquale Urges Edinboro U. Officials to Redouble Efforts to Complete Background Checks on Summer Camp Workers

Report also looked at how student fees are charged and revenues used

HARRISBURG (June 13, 2013) – Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today released a performance audit of Edinboro University in Erie County showing some improvement in background checks for workers at summer camps and indicating the university uses student fees appropriately.

“The safety and security of kids attending summer camps on college campuses is too important to skip background checks on employees,” DePasquale said. “For college officials and camp organizers, there should be no higher priority than ensuring the safety and security of children attending summer camps. As a parent of two young children I am sure I’m not the only one who expects that universities hosting summer camps will conduct the appropriate background checks on workers associated with the camps.”

An audit released this week shows that Edinboro University failed in 2011 to ensure all employees, students and volunteers involved in athletic and educational youth camps passed the criminal and child abuse clearance background checks. The university made policy and procedure changes that improved background check compliance in 2012. However, even with those improved efforts, the university still failed to ensure complete compliance with all background check requirements for up to 18 individuals working with the camps in 2012.

“The intent of the audit was to evaluate what measures Edinboro University has implemented to ensure the safety and welfare of minors attending camps held on university property,” DePasquale said. “Our audit does not show there was any wrongdoing, but it makes clear that colleges that host summer camps must do a better job of conducting background checks on employees and volunteers,” DePasquale said.

“I talked today with Edinboro’s president and she assured me that the university is committed to ensuring background checks are on file for employees and volunteers affiliated with the summer camps, and that they will obtain the appropriate background checks missed last year.”

The Public School Code includes the following background check provisions:

• Requires a Pennsylvania State Police criminal background check.
• Requires a federal criminal history record and that fingerprints be sent to the FBI. The school code also specifies that all applicants for employment, including independent contractors and their employees who have direct contact with minors, must undergo background checks. 

Additionally, the Child Protective Services Law requires a Pennsylvania child abuse clearance to be obtained prior to the school employee beginning work with minors.

In addition to evaluating compliance with background checks for summer camps, auditors reviewed the various fees charged to students to determine if Edinboro University used the collected fees for the intended purposes.

The audit report shows that Edinboro used class fee revenues for their intended purposes, but the university failed to refund $547 to 17 students who over paid for a trip to Mexico in 2010-11.

The audit report also includes information updating findings from a previous audit of the university.

The full audit report is available online at www.PaAuditor.gov.

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