A Follow Up to my WWCOJD - Volunteers in School

Sobering stuff man.  It's just another reminder to always be vigilant.  Keep up the good fight man.  

There is a registered sex offender 7 doors down from our house.....my kids go by it everyday.  I talked to the guy for about 2 hours one day regarding my expectations for his behavior around my kids.  He's good with it. That was 4 years ago....it's old news here.

The system worked like it was supposed to in your case, that's why sex offenders have to register.....slip ups happen.  You're still overreacting. Some changes in policy will be made, things will work better in the future.

I'm going to take you back to some of my original comments.....there are MILLIONS of kids in school each day with thousands and thousands of volunteers.  Statistically, your child has virtually no chance of being molested at school.  Yep, have some checks and balances, teach your children well, and have a beer to settle down.

Left Brain, I don't speculate when it comes to my kids.  I know the players and when I come to class I am prepared my friend.  I have been doing my homework on the risk while the county's overpaid administrators have their heads in the sand and thumbs up their ......  

You don't get it do you dude..this man, the guy written about could have been in my daughers school and walked right out the front door with her acting as the volunteer he was supposed to be.  When I raised questions they dismissed my concerns, as you just did, and now we find out yes, we actually have offenders in the very county system I noted concerns to start with.

Calm down...dude, the heat coming off me could launch a rocket right now.  But in fact I am calm, Im here talking my tri friends, thinking over the next move, and will approach tomorrow as a day of endurance and not sprint. 

Now, if you are ever in Atlanta, I'll buy you a beer...

Hell yeah we'd have a beer....and enjoy it.

Look, my unit that I supervise tracks 52 registered sex offenders in my area....I know a LITTLE about this.  It's a good program and it's taken seriously.  I can't speak for your area, but obviously they make sure these guys get registered because the guy at your school did.

Here's the crazy deal......don't assume that because someone is on the sex offender list they are necessarily dangerous to your children.  Yes, it's a BIG red flag....but where I'm from you can be forced to register for an indecent exposure, and you can get arrested for indecent exposure for urinating in public...you get my point. Yes, the guy in your story is a problem.....agreed.

I respect your desire to protect your children.....I am the same.  But you need to make sure the dial is set properly or you can come off looking like more of a crazy guy than the guys you are worried about.

Contrary to what you may think....it's actually much safer for kids now than it was when I was a kid in the 60's....and safer for each generation since.  This stuff is out in the open now, not hidden and unspoken.

Again.....truly.....take more precautions when you are out with your kids in a thunderstorm...they have a much greater chance of being struck by lightning than they do being a victim of abuse at school.

Great point, Left.

Great point, BUT, it's the way how it was stated is what "rubs my rhubarb the wrong way" - telling "me" what to do - being a little bossy.  Not well recepted to a lot of people, I would say.  Especially of the circumstance that is being discussed.  Just my viewpoint.

Missing the point as far as I'm concerned. The guy was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated child molestation and then falsified his information to gain access to a school. He didn't urinate in public, he molested a child at least twice in 2004 and had gained access to a school to find another victim. I may not be giving him the benefit of the doubt, but it was my kids and my school, he doesn't get one. 

The system didn't work, it was broken/bypassed and it only got noticed by another parent like 1stTimeTri paying more attention than the school administration did - along with a healthy amount of good luck that he and his kid recognized the guy.

I respect what you do and your experience Left, but I think you are off base on this one.

Keep your emotions in check enough to be constructive/effective 1stTimeTri, but I agree with you that there process in your school district needs to be changed.

We recently learned that there was a registered sex offender living two doors down from me. I have three boys and there are other kids that are very close to his residence, all in grade school. Once the parents told me about this, I looked him up and then went to speak to some of my LE contacts. (he was convicted of Aggravated Satutory Rape) the charge alone bothered me. What is worse, is that the bus stop for the elementary school was right in front of his house!

When I went to LE and asked them about this, they basically informed me of what the charge meant and that there was no law about a sex offender and bus stops being in close proximity, and that there is no law he is breaking. (He is doing his parole checkins to my knowledge, LE could only give out so much information)

It bothered me a lot more that the school board, or whoever is in charge of the bus routes, went ahead and placed a school bus stop outside his house. It still bothers a lot of parents in the neighborhood, and we are seeing what we can get done about this.

I would urge everyone with kids to check the sex offenders website so that you know who is in your neighborhood.

Why don't you go talk to him?

My point was more along the lines of why doesn't the school board check out the locations of the bus stops prior to the school year.

I have no idea, but I don't know any that do.  Where would you have them stop?  How about the routes that kids would have to walk to get to a bus stop, should the schools make sure the kids don't have to walk by a RSO's house? Should they make sure a RSO doesn't drive by the school when kids are outside playing?

I'm night trying to be antagonistic toward you.....I get it, you are concerned for your children....we are the same.

The absolute best thing you can do is walk down and talk to your neighbor who is a RSO.  It's an easy thing.....most of them will be relieved to talk to you about it because it relieves them of wondering what you all think or even if you know he/she is a RSO.  Knowledge is always better for everyone. 

"Hey, we know you are on the RSO list, we all have kids, we're worried that we can't let our kids play outside without being right next to them, can you help me to not be so worried about this?  Can I help you let the other neighbors know that you won't harm their kids?"

Do it however you want......but you and your family will be safer if everyone is playing from the same field of knowledge.  Also, keep in mind, although the two cases in this thread don't make it look that way, the majority of RSO's are not pedophiles, their crimes involved adults in a variety of situations. That doesn't make them a child molester.

isn't aggravated statutory rape against a child? under 18 and there is a difference of 10 years between victim and subject?

And I understand that we can't keep kids off the street walking home, but knowing that kids are out there early in the morning, right in front of a RSO house is concerning. Move the bus stop to the other end of the street, it is not that difficult.

Not necessarily.

Like I said, I think that guy could be a problem....but you should go ask him.  Every state is different.  In my state, for instance, he could have been 19 and she 15, or vice versa, and the aggravated part could have been because she/he was intoxicated and considered incapacitated. Maybe the crime he committed wasn't in your state but was from a state that has reciprical aggreements...so he could have committed the crime I just described in my state and now his RSO status is transferred to your state and looks much different because the elements of a crime that is titled the same way are very different.

The point I'm trying to make is that the RSO laws are not as simple as most people think, and that most of the RSO's are not necessarily a danger to children. 

Like I said, I have a RSO in my neighborhood.....we speak frequently.  If another RSO would happen to move in I'd be at his door as soon as he was settled in.

My point here was not as much about the perp but it was about the process of the school and their blind eye, AKA lax attitude.  Originally I stated my wife is also a volunteer and she was astounded she just signed a piece of paper and she is walking around the halls of the school.  There are two issues here but I was focused on the system and how to fix it.  I know how to fix a perp.

As always I appreciate all your contributions. 

I am going to the school board meeting coming up and wil be on record.  With said concern, as well as the news report of their "slip up" will no less cause the insurance company to force "proper" processes in place to protect kids.  Nothing is 100% but effort is always praised.

Thank you, Im out and may you all PR in 2013!  BTW my IM training for Louisvile starts again Nov 1, as Jerry Maguire said "who's with me"?

Just to further muddy the waters, in Michigan there is no "statutory rape".  It's criminal sexual conduct in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th degree.

If he was 14 and his girlfriend was 13, he would be guilty of 1st degree C.S.C., punishable by up to life in prison.  VERY unlikely that he would 1) be tried as an adult, 2) tried at all, or 3) arrested in the first place.

What information do you have that causes you to think that will happen?  I've never heard of anything even remotely close to that.  

As Sgt. Hulka said, "lighten up, Francis". 

No, I think you should help fix what you see as broken if you can....but I think your attitude should be calm and helpful, not throwing up "outcomes" that you have no idea about or control over. (you brought up laying the Lawyer card in the first post, and now you brought up pressure from insurance companies.....all meaningless and not helpful)

The way I have seen it work well is that a group comes to the school and says, "we're worried about our kids, we have some ideas, can we help?"  Or....run in there making a bunch of demands and threats and let me know how that turns out for you.....what you'll get is the bare minimum to shut you up instead of some really decent policy that they are happy to implement. 

Good luck.....it DOES sound there are some pretty easy changes they could make that would let everyone feel a bit better about their kid's safety.