Most of us feel safer knowing registered sex offenders cannot work or live near schools or day care facilities. But what if that registered sex offender is also a parent?
On Jan. 29, 2007, a ten-year-old girl was walking to East Side Elementary in Rogers when she noticed a man getting out of a grey minivan.
"The suspect grabbed her took her behind a shed. That's when he groped her," said Steve Helms of the Rogers Police Department.
That man was 30-year-old George Perez, a registered sex offender. He was also a parent of an East Side student.
"George Perez actually had been kind of lingering in the school," said Beverly Engle of the Children's Advocacy Center. Engle said Perez had been in the halls, observing children and driving around the school prior to the attack.
"I think there were some concerns that him victimizing that child may have been due to the fact that he had accessibility to that school at different times," Engle said.
But at the time, there were no laws on the books keeping Perez -- or other sex offenders -- from being on school grounds.
But in the wake of the Perez attack, teachers, child advocates and lawmakers in Northwest Arkansas created House Bill 2336, which limits when a level 3 or 4 registered sex offender is allowed at school.
Friday, November 21, 2008
No details about sex offenders enrolled in schools
Des Moines school officials say that although they are required to educate convicted sex offenders who live in the district, they will not identify them publicly or notify parents which schools they attend.
School board members this fall approved education plans for two students - one whose crime was of a "heinous nature," according to board member Jonathan Narcisse - but declined to talk about the cases outside the closed-door meetings where the decisions were made.
The issue pits the confidentiality and safety of young offenders against parents' concerns that their children will be put in danger without their knowledge.
"The school or the police cannot at all times protect the public from becoming a victim if this person is a real predator. If this person isn't locked up, the best chance they have is for the public to know who he or she is," said state Rep. Clel Baudler, the ranking Republican member of the Legislature's public safety committee.
Baudler, of Greenfield, said school officials should make public not only the names and where offenders are enrolled, but details of the crimes they committed.
"Schools have a responsibility of confidentiality, but they also have a responsibility of safety," he said. "And they can't have that happen until there's information out there that's public."
Districts that refuse enrollment to an offender must provide and pay for alternatives, such as off-campus classes, home tutors or after-hours courses.
School board members this fall approved education plans for two students - one whose crime was of a "heinous nature," according to board member Jonathan Narcisse - but declined to talk about the cases outside the closed-door meetings where the decisions were made.
The issue pits the confidentiality and safety of young offenders against parents' concerns that their children will be put in danger without their knowledge.
"The school or the police cannot at all times protect the public from becoming a victim if this person is a real predator. If this person isn't locked up, the best chance they have is for the public to know who he or she is," said state Rep. Clel Baudler, the ranking Republican member of the Legislature's public safety committee.
Baudler, of Greenfield, said school officials should make public not only the names and where offenders are enrolled, but details of the crimes they committed.
"Schools have a responsibility of confidentiality, but they also have a responsibility of safety," he said. "And they can't have that happen until there's information out there that's public."
Districts that refuse enrollment to an offender must provide and pay for alternatives, such as off-campus classes, home tutors or after-hours courses.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
