As of July 1, 2001 the State of New York requires that all officials go through a background check to ensure the safety of our children. The State Law applies to all schools, any number of games officiated and any level of school officiating.
Officials who have not been fingerprinted will not be allowed to referee games.
The entire process, plus extensive FAQs and lists of the relevent laws can be found at the state fingerprinting site.
The fingerprinting prodecure can be found at the Fingerprinting Process web site.