News that a registered sex offender was allowed to attend a recent dance at a Blue Valley elementary school has touched a raw nerve among parents.
Now, the school board is discussing policy changes, and a state lawmaker is proposing legislation in response.
The Blue Valley school board, at its meeting Monday, began discussing a new policy that aims to address parents’ concerns after an incident on Feb. 8 at Blue River Elementary in southern Overland Park.
A man convicted in 2011 for distribution of child pornography via the internet was allowed to briefly attend the social event, where he was seen with his camera at the edge of the dance floor where students were dancing.
Kansas Senate bill in the works
Among those in attendance at Monday’s board meeting was Kansas Sen. Kellie Warren, a Leawood Republican and a Blue Valley parent.
She told board members that she, like other parents and constituents, was surprised that Kansas statutes do not limit how close offenders can live to a school or whether they can enter school buildings.
To that end, Warren has drafted a bill that would make it illegal for someone 18 or older who is on the registry for a crime against someone younger than 15 to enter school property or attend a school activity.
“Every legislator I have shared this story with has had a visceral reaction. It’s just horror and disgust,” Warren said after the board discussion.
Legislative action could be a guide for other districts across the state, she said.
“This is your government being accountable. When I heard this, I thought the first thing we’ve got to do is go write a bill. It’s a start,” Warren said.
Senate Bill 288 was introduced Tuesday. Warren, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she plans to fast-track it, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 11.
Warren urged parents to testify or send written remarks at an eventual hearing.
School board also revising district policy
On Monday, school board members were also presented with a draft policy in response to the incident.
The proposed policy would disallow registered offenders to attend a school-sponsored event without advance written permission from the superintendent and the district’s director of safety and security. Exceptions would be made for instances in which their attendance is legally required, say, in the case of a student conference or special education plan.
If the offender is still on parole or supervised release, or was convicted of a sex or violent crime against a minor, “there is a presumption attendance will not be allowed,” according to language of the draft policy.
However, that could be overruled by “extraordinary life circumstances” as determined by the superintendent and safety director.
For those no longer under supervised release, the decision of whether to allow the request is up to the superintendent and safety director, per the draft. (Adults convicted of a crime are required to be on the registry for a minimum of 15 years, but more serious crimes can warrant a lifetime requirement.)
The policy wouldn’t apply to public meetings or non-school sponsored events, many of which are large and could involve extended family members.
‘Nowhere near acceptable as it is’
Some parents at the meeting faulted the proposed new policy for lacking provisions requiring the notification of parents when an offender does get permission to be on school property.
Warren’s draft bill would be more clear cut in disallowing that, they said.
“The district’s draft is nowhere near acceptable as it is. It needs a lot of modification” because there is enough leeway for the same thing to happen again, said Ashleigh DeBrunner, a Blue River parent.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, one speaker invoked the memory of Stephanie Schmidt, a Leawood college student whose 1993 murder rocked Johnson County.
Schmidt was raped and murdered after accepting a ride home from a party by a co-worker, unaware that he was a convicted sex offender. The case led to the “Stephanie Schmidt Sexual Predator Law” in Kansas.
Rich Bracken, who said he had been close to the Schmidt family, linked that decades-old tragedy to the recent incident. Had Schmidt been aware of her co-worker’s history as a sex offender, he said, her murder might have been prevented.
“Every single day, we trust that when we drop [our] children off at school, they will be safe, that they will be protected, that they will be surrounded by adults who have their best interests at heart,” he said. “But without a strict, enforceable policy that keeps sex offenders off school grounds, and a level of communication and awareness that keeps us all in the know, that trust is shattered.”
The new policy could be finalized next month
School board members asked questions but took no action Monday.
Some said they were also surprised at the lack of current restrictions on registered offenders, although a staffer noted that parole and supervision rules often limit contact with minors.
Board member Clay Norkey said he had been unaware that state law doesn’t restrict where sex offenders can live.
“That was eye-opening for me. I just kind of figured there were these kinds of restrictions in place,” he said. “So I also welcome some action by the Kansas Legislature to bring some laws into place.”
The school district will take feedback on its policy proposal and is expected to take the measure up again at its meeting on April 14. Click here to provide feedback online.
