Felony conviction bars assistant coach at YCHS

A Yuba City man is ineligible for a volunteer high school coaching position because of his 10-year-old felony conviction, the Yuba City Unified School District ruled this week.

Craig Vidano, 38, had been waiting for a decision on whether he could be an assistant coach for the Yuba City High School freshman baseball team despite his felony conviction for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

The district determined that the California Education Code would prohibit someone with that type of conviction from volunteering or employment, said Tom Walters, assistant superintendent of human resources.

Vidano said Thursday he was disappointed by the district's decision but will divert his coaching enthusiasm into his daughter's Little League team, he said.

"It is what it is," he said. "I have to hold my head high up now and move on."

If one positive can be seen through his experience in trying to coach despite his criminal record, Vidano said he hopes youth will realize their actions have consequences and could one day prevent them from doing something they love, like coaching high school sports.

"If I can prevent one kid from making a bad decision in his life that will affect him for the rest of his life, it's all been worth it to me," Vidano said.

The Education Code gives the district two options for volunteers: Either be cleared through fingerprinting with the FBI or Department of Justice, or receive an activity supervisor clearance certificate issued by the Commission on Teaching Credentialing.

The code outlines the controlled substance offenses or their equivalents that would be grounds for the commission to deny volunteering or employment. The offenses include unlawful possession of a controlled substance, possession for sale and manufacturing drug paraphernalia or controlled substances.

Vidano was convicted in U.S. District Court in Sacramento for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine in 2002 and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Walters declined to state which Health and Safety Code offense determined Vidano's ineligibility, but said the commission said it would not issue a credential or certificate to anyone with those types of convictions.

"If they wouldn't, we obviously can't," Walters said.

Vidano was released with 85 percent of time served in 2008, after serving in a low-security facility and a minimum-security prison camp. He found a job with Teichert Construction and was able to buy a home for his wife and two daughters, now ages 14 months and 10 years.

He also returned to coaching, helping out at Little League and high school alumni games. And then his brother, Steve Thornton, a sergeant with the Yuba City Police Department and head coach of the freshman team, asked if he wanted to help coach this season.

Vidano helped through the preseason and into the start of the regular season before a parent of a nonplayer contacted the school district asking why a convicted felon was in a position of authority and influence with the school's youth.

He had not submitted the required paperwork prior to coaching and had to stop coaching until the district made its ruling.