A.1.14 Hiring Judges for 4-H Shows

To a 4-H youth, a show judge is an important authority – someone who willingly shares skills and knowledge that can help members increase their ability to show successfully and pursue their interest with improved results.  As such, the judge of a 4-H show can have much influence and even power over a young person.  While this power is almost always used for good purposes, we must be aware the potential for abuse of a youth by a person in this position of authority exists.  In recognition of this possibility, the Maine 4-H program has adopted the following procedure to be used when hiring a 4-H judge.

4-H volunteers and staff who have the responsibility of hiring a judge for a 4-H show must check the name of the potential judge against the Maine and National Sex Offender registries before the person is hired to judge the show.

The simplest way to do this is to:

Pre-Selection Process

1. “Google” Maine Sex Offender Registry. 

2. When you get to the Maine Sex offender Registry On-line Search Service, click on “Go” at the bottom of the first screen. 

3. You will need to know the first and last name and the town and zip code of the person you are checking.  It is very important to be aware that there are many people who share the same name.

4. To check the National Sex Offender Public Registry:
   a.       Use the link on the Maine Sex Offender Registry site or “google” National Sex Offender Public Registry. 
   b.      Agree to everything on the first screen
   c.       Then enter the first and last name and in the right hand corner of the screen, click on “National Search”.

5. If their name appears in either registry then follow these steps:
   a.       Contact the potential judge and say something like “our policy is that before we hire a judge for our 4-H show we check to see if someone is listed on the Maine Sex Offender Registry or the National Sex Offender registry.  To do this we need your Date of Birth (DOB).” (This is important in case there is a person with the same name listed in the data base.  Collecting information about date of birth from potential judges will give you an accurate way to verify that your judge is or is not the person on the list.)
   b.      Once you have their DOB then you can re-check the registries to verify if it is their name that is in the registry.

6. If the potential judge shows up on one of these two registries, you may not hire him or her.  If the judge is already hired, he or she must be told they may not judge the show.

1/2008

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