A week from arrival of German exchange students, background checks for Concord host families remain in limbo

Leaders of a well-known German exchange program at Concord High School are scrambling to resolve issues that have arisen with background checks for host families ahead of the anticipated arrival of more than a dozen students next week.

Program leaders alerted families they needed to complete the background checks in August, but some had yet to do so as of earlier this week, according to district administrators and parents. Students are set to arrive on Friday, Sept. 26 for a monthlong stay.

The background check process typically takes six weeks, according to district spokesperson Terry Wolf. However, administrators said they were working with state police and the office of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to expedite it.

“We are reasonably sure at this time that the background checks will be completed before the students arrive,” district spokesperson Terry Wolf said in a statement on Thursday.

The news of a potential issue — which was communicated at a meeting earlier this week — came as a total surprise to families, who had been gearing up to host the students for almost a year. The biennial exchange, which will involve Concord High students going to Wegberg, Germany, in the summer, is part of the national German American Partnership Program, or GAPP. Concord has participated since the 1980s and the program is renowned at the high school.

“We’ve been really excited to welcome our German student and want to make it as seamless as possible for them,” said parent Sharon Richert, whose son, Oliver, is a participant in the program. “So at the last minute, to find out that all of this is in jeopardy is really causing a lot of anxiety, and it’s causing a lot of disappointment and frustration.”

The problem appears to have been caused by a belated request for parents to complete the checks. Though interim Superintendent Tim Herbert said the checks have always been required for volunteers who work one-on-one with students, Richert and fellow Concord parent Meghan Merrill, who hosted exchange students in 2021 and 2023, said that GAPP parents weren’t previously subjected to the requirement.

Richert became aware that she would need to complete the background check on Aug. 15, when she and other parents received an email from the program coordinators. That email — which only asked parents to start the process “as soon as possible” — came four days after a former Bishop Brady High School exchange student alleged in a lawsuit that she had been sexually assaulted by a member of her host family in 2022.

Herbert said the requirement was not directly related to that case.

“Are we aware of the Brady situation? Absolutely,” Herbert acknowledged in an interview Friday. “Any school is probably paying extra close attention to the expectations regarding volunteers right now.”

The timing of the request left parents with little wiggle room. It came exactly six weeks before the German students were set to arrive. Background checks typically take about six weeks to process, according to Wolf.

The school district recently reached out to Shaheen’s office for help. A spokesperson for the senator said the office contacted the New Hampshire State Police about the issue and learned that they had found an error in paperwork submitted by the school district. Shaheen’s office connected the school district with the appropriate contact at the State Police, the spokesperson said.

Herbert said he wasn’t sure of the specifics of the issue but confirmed that the state police recently sent the district back a packet of documents, which he said is a relatively common occurrence as the district works through background checks for many volunteers.

Herbert said the district hand-delivered 15 forms from host families on Friday and was told they would be processed quickly.

“I was encouraged to hear that it is very doable to get every application done before the 26th,” the day students arrive, he said. “That leads me to believe we will have no issue with any student staying with the families.”

Herbert wasn’t sure of how many families had been fully cleared as of Friday.

The district has “several” backup options if the checks are not completed by the students’ arrival date, including placing multiple students in the homes of approved families until other checks were finalized, Wolf said.

German teachers Sarah Coughlin and Marnix van Steenbergen referred questions about the situation to Wolf.

Richert said that the teachers appeared upset about the situation at this week’s meeting.

“I really feel for them,” she said in an interview. “They were very emotional about it. You can tell they’ve been working around the clock trying to figure out how to come up with either a contingency plan or figure out how to get this problem solved. They put their heart and soul into this program.”

Van Steenbergen has participated in the program for more than 15 years. Previously, it was led by German teacher Laura Ernst.

The program, which lasts about a month in the U.S. in the fall and a similar duration in Germany in the summer, has been widely celebrated in Concord for decades. The district is known for its German instruction, a language not typically taught in area high schools, and the exchange is the culmination of many years of study for students.

Over the years, it has led to lasting friendships, multi-generational bonds and an enduring relationship between Concord High and Maximilian Kolbe Gymnasium, the German school.

The German students are set be in the U.S. from Sept. 26 to Oct. 22.

Concord’s exchange is a part of a national program started in 1972 that some 750 U.S. schools participate in, according to Goethe-Institut, a German cultural organization.