Posts Tagged ‘ Atlantis Elementary School ’

Despite proposed ordinances designed to keep convicted sex offenders from residing near schools, registered offenders who have children attending Brevard schools are allowed entry to school grounds to visit their kids.

Nervous parents called THE GUARDIAN last week complaining that sex offender William Pratt (pictured) was frequenting Ralph Williams Jr. Elementary School in Rockledge. Pratt, was the subject of an article by FLORIDA TODAY staff writer John Torres, published September 13. The story focused on the offender’s opposition to a proposed Palm Bay ordinance which would effectively banish both predators and offenders from the city.

School resource officer John Hudgens says parents who come to the school to visit their children must enter their name and their child’s name in a computer at the front office. The computer prints out a bright yellow tag which is to be worn by visitors at all times.

“No parent is allowed to be off by themselves,” says Hudgens, “They are usually in a common area like the lunchroom, and are not outside the view of other adults.” He said any parent or visitor without a yellow tag is stopped and questioned.

Parents are allowed to come on campus to eat lunch with their children and attend functions in the group setting. Volunteers who work “one-on-one” with students are required to pass a background check. Tutors and Apple Corps volunteers are fingerprinted and screened before they may access school grounds.

Principal Cynthia Ford said she has received inquiries periodically from parents asking about Pratt’s access to the campus.

Viera resident Terry Ramey thinks the system is not adequate; “There are no real safety precautions, you put a name in the computer, get a sticker and walk. No one really checks you in.”

Ramey whose children attended Williams Elementary last year, was shocked when she noticed Pratt on campus; “I had seen him at the school at various functions…a science fair among other things.” she told THE GUARDIAN in a telephone interview. “In my opinion sex offenders should not be allowed on school grounds regardless of whether they have children attending the school. Common sense dictates that people who have hurt a child that way should not be there at all.”

Andrea E. Alford, Director of District and School Security says when her department receives an inquiry about a sex offender, the staff checks to see if the person has been released from any restrictions imposed by the state: “If they have completed their sanctions, there is no reason to take additional action.” she said.

Alford says people who are classified as predators are not allowed on school campuses. State law however, places no restrictions on adults who have been classified as sex offenders and have completed their sentences. “They have civil rights,” she said “and we can’t place sanctions on them that the state has not.”

Director Alford spoke to THE GUARDIAN in a telephone interview September 29th. She said the school system does not keep a list of parents who are released sex offenders.

The subject of child molesters visiting their children in schools was the topic of an article in the Summer 1997 issue of THE GUARDIAN. Convicted molester John W. Daniels was reported to be entering the campus of Atlantis Elementary School to eat lunch with his child. At the time Daniels was still on probation, after being convicted of committing a lewd act on a child in 1987. The article whose headline reads “Campus Molester Gets Detention” explained that Daniels was barred from being present on any school property by the conditions of his sentence. Atlantis Principal Vickie Mace reported Daniels to probation officers who arrested him for violating his probation. Daniels eventually completed his probation, and because his conviction occurred before 1995, he is not required to register with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Florida schools are just beginning to grapple with the problems of maintaining safety standards when convicted sex criminals are given access to school grounds. This month, Brevard schools began implementing state procedures requiring vendors who service schools to undergo a background check. Some school systems in Florida now have student sex offenders in the upper grade levels.

New technologies promise to improve on the “make your own label” system currently in place at Williams Elementary. Sophisticated scanners are coming on line which verify the identity of the visitor automatically. The new systems match the face of the visitor with the photo on the drivers license which is inserted in the device.

E. Allan Measom, President of Raptor Technologies says, “Seventy-three percent (73%) of all of the Registered Sex Offenders logged at our Texas school installations had previous convictions of sexual crimes against children—with the victim’s average age being eleven (11). The most disturbing part of this is that most of these (offenders) are parents or guardians with children at that school. And even worse than that, many of them visit the school on a regular basis.”

Meason’s company markets visitor I.D. systems to schools in Texas and Florida.