Those wishing to volunteer for St. Mary’s County Public Schools will now have to go through a more extensive screening process to be approved. Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, SMCPS will implement new procedures for screening volunteers to ensure an appropriate level of background checks for all community members who provide volunteer hours to its schools. All of this comes in the wake of a rash of arrests that happened in April involving suspected sexual offenses within the school system.
One involved 24 year-old Scott Strandberg of Lexington Park, a former drum line coach for Leonardtown High School who was arrested for allegedly having sexual contact with a 16 year-old female student both at his home and on a school bus between September and November of last year. Under the old system, as a paid volunteer, he had not been subjected to the same type of background check as other school system employees or substitute teachers.
Also in April, 54 year-old David Emile Guillemette was arrested and charged with committing sexual abuse toward a 15 year-old female who had visited his home, as well as third-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. Guillemette had worked as a substitute teacher at various St. Mary’s County elementary schools, and had been subjected to a background check, which showed no prior criminal record save for charges related to traffic citations and a peace order that had been filed against him by complainants who failed to appear in court.
School Superintendent Michael Martirano announced his intentions to initiate a tougher screening process for volunteers after these arrests were made, explaining that volunteers would be screened against the National Sex Offender Registry to start with.
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