I wonder if this policy has provisions, for people restricted to have immediate access to decision makers, so that as the need for school access approvals arise -often- daily can be evaluated and granted immediately if necessary. Or, is this a policy of denials, written under a mask of possible approval? i.e., a due process question.3-1-2012 New Hampshire:
Superintendent can grant entry onto school grounds
The 16 registered sex offenders currently living in Pittsfield will soon receive letters from the town's school superintendent informing them that they may not enter school property, according to a policy recently adopted by the Pittsfield School Board.
The policy, which the school board began drafting in January, prevents registered sex offenders from entering school grounds without written consent. It also applies to sex offenders who are parents or guardians of Pittsfield students. Pittsfield has at least one sex offender in that situation.
"We weren't dealing with a hypothetical," said school board Chairman Clayton Wood.
The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union and an attorney working with one registered sex offender are both keeping an eye on the policy as it's implemented.
Raymond Simons is a registered sex offender in Pittsfield, and his stepchildren attend the elementary school, according to Brad Davis, the attorney Simons has sought to review his case. Davis said Simons contacted him in January because he was concerned the policy was targeting him. Simons wants to be able to take the kids to and from school and stay involved in their education, Davis said.
Simons, 40, is on the sex offender registry because he was convicted of two counts of felonious sexual assault in which the victim was over 13 and younger than 16, according to New Hampshire's sex offender registry website. He served his sentences from 1993 to 1996, according to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections.
The new policy states that parents or guardians who are sex offenders must obtain permission from Pittsfield's superintendent to come to the school, and "both parties must sign off on the conditions, which, at a minimum, will include a prohibition against volunteering in any capacity, including field trips."
Davis said Simons has stayed away from school grounds since the policy passed Feb. 9, and he's in the process of working through an advocate to obtain the required permission from Superintendent John Freeman.
"He's intending to comply with the policy at this point," Davis said. "We're going to wait and see how things go."
Barbara Keshen, a staff attorney for the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, said she's concerned about the policy's impact on sex offenders who are parents, even though it does allow them to seek permission to enter school property. Before the policy was adopted, Keshen had heard about it from Simons. She sent letters last month to the school board and to NHCLU members who live in Pittsfield, explaining her problem with the policy.
"My concern was that this gives the superintendent unbridled discretion to permit or deny a parent to come onto the school property and there's no criteria to decide whether or not that person poses any kind of present risk to students," she said.
Keshen said she would prefer that the policy contain specific criteria to guide the permission process. Some sex offenders pose a present risk to students, she said, while others do not.
"It's a fundamental right to parent children and to participate in their education," she said. "And in order to prohibit a parent from participating, going to school plays, going to school ceremonies, going to athletic events, there ought to be some kind of necessity."
Wood said the school board worked with the school district's attorney and discussed assessing the danger that an individual sex offender poses to children but ultimately decided those criteria weren't feasible.
"I couldn't think of anything that would put the district more in a liable risk than having the superintendent try to do risk assessment on somebody on that list," Wood said.
Keshen said part of the NHCLU's concern with Pittsfield's policy is the sex offender registry itself, which includes both "a repeat offender against young children or . . . (someone who) as an adolescent they had sex with their underage girlfriend."
The NHCLU won't take action against Pittsfield's policy unless a registered sex offender in Pittsfield asks Keshen to take up the case, she said. Davis said he also hasn't officially taken Simons as a client, but will continue to follow his situation.
Pittsfield's policy is based on a model policy by the New Hampshire School Boards Association, which does not have suggestions for handling parents who are sex offenders. Barrett Christina, a staff attorney for the association, said school boards have the authority to limit who can come onto school grounds "in the best interest of protecting children."
"And if the school district believes that limiting sex offenders' access to school grounds is in the best interest of children, then they have the right to do that," he said.
The school board began discussing the policy in January when a group of parents presented a petition to the school board. They had collected 151 signatures asking for a policy to keep sex offenders off school grounds.
Cara Peterson, one of the parents who circulated the petition, said she is "just thrilled" that the policy was put in place so quickly. She and other parents hope to work with legislators to make the policy a state law.
"I think this should have been a law a long time ago," Peterson said. "I don't know how it couldn't be. It doesn't make any sense that it's not. So (it's) just to keep all the kids safe and know who's coming in and out of the school."
Wood said another issue in drafting the policy was considering events on school grounds that take place outside of regular school hours. Those include public meetings and events not supervised by school district employees.
The policy states that access to public meetings on school property - such as school board or town meetings - are still open to sex offenders. They may not, however, attend school-sponsored groups such as the Parent-Teacher Organization without prior permission.
Wood said his primary goal was providing school administrators with guidelines and settling out a policy that could be implemented and enforced.
"It's an awkward situation because you have people's liberty at the same time as protection of the kids," he said. ..Source.. by Laura McCrystal / Monitor staff
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