Sponsored by:
Senator RONALD L. RICE
District 28 (Essex)
Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Cunningham, Gill, Singleton, Codey, Brown and T.Kean
SYNOPSIS
Directs Commissioner of Education to develop sensitivity training program for high school athletic directors, coaches, and sports officials of interscholastic athletic sports programs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning sensitivity training in Statewide interscholastic sports programs and supplementing chapter 11 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Education shall develop an interscholastic sports sensitivity training program for high school athletic directors, coaches, and sports officials. In the development of the program, the commissioner shall consult with the Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety. The training program shall provide information on topics including, but not limited to:
(1) gender and sexual orientation;
(2) race and ethnicity;
(3) disabilities;
(4) religious tolerance;
(5) unconscious bias; and
(6) diversity and inclusion.
The commissioner shall update the training program as necessary to ensure that it reflects the most current information available to provide a productive discourse on issues of diversity.
b. The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association shall require each person who coaches a public school district or nonpublic school interscholastic high school sport, and an athletic director who oversees a public school district or nonpublic school interscholastic high school sports program, to complete the training program established pursuant to subsection a. of this section every four years.
Each newly appointed coach or athletic director shall initially complete the training program during his first year in that position.
c. When an individual applies to a sports officials’ chapter or association, the individual shall certify that he has completed the training program established pursuant to subsection a. of this section. An active sports official shall complete the training program every four years.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Education to develop an interscholastic sports sensitivity training program for high school athletic directors, coaches, and sports officials. The training program is required to provide information on topics including, but not limited to:
· gender and sexual orientation;
· race and ethnicity;
· disabilities;
· religious tolerance;
· unconscious bias; and
· diversity and inclusion.
In the development of the program, the commissioner will consult with the Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
The bill also directs the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association to require each person who coaches a public school district or nonpublic school interscholastic high school sport, and an athletic director who oversees a public school district or nonpublic school interscholastic high school sports program, to complete the training program every four years. Under the bill, each newly appointed coach or athletic director must initially complete the training program during his first year in that position.
Finally, the bill provides that when an individual applies to a sports officials’ chapter or association, the individual must certify that he has completed the training program. An active sports official must complete the training program every four years.