August 6, 2014

De Pere rejects sex offender residency ordinance

8-6-2014 Wisconsin:

Despite impassioned pleas from Syble Hopp School staff and parents, the De Pere City Council voted late Tuesday night against imposing a "safety zone" around the school to protect students from registered sex offenders.

"We all want to protect the children," Alderman Larry Lueck told the approximately 60 people gathered in the council chambers. "The problem is there is no answer."

Parents and staff mobilized after learning that a man convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl in Brown County in 1992 had moved within 30 feet of Syble Hopp, a school for developmentally disabled children and young adults.

Thomas Bouchonville, 48, moved into a place in the 1100 block of Patrick Henry Way. Police notified neighbors, prompting administration and staff to protest of his presence in the neighborhood.

De Pere enacted an ordinance in 2010 that prohibited registered offenders from living within 500 feet of where children congregate. It lifted the ordinance in March 2013 when police protested it, saying it complicated efforts to keep track of the offenders.

"Our children are particularly naïve and easily manipulated and they are significantly more likely to be victimized," Syble Hopp principal Abbie Nizzia told the council.

The school teaches in part by providing students with increasing amounts of independence, depending on their needs and abilities, and unless a safety zone were to be established, the school would be forced to drastically alter that part of its curriculum, Nizzia said.

Teachers at the school try to get their students to understand concepts like stranger-danger and the importance of saying "no," but for some of the kids, "I work on teaching them their name, address, phone number – some for years," teacher Jennifer Schubring said.

Parent Jessica Smits said some families sold everything they had and made life-altering decisions in order to move near Syble Hopp and enroll their special-needs child in a school they knew was safe. The council's inaction jeopardizes all that, she said. She called not just for a city-wide restrictive ordinance but a mandatory reporting policy and an automatic ban on any sex offender rejected by other municipalities.

The council also heard from a few people who argued against a restrictive ordinance.

Sue Lockwood, director of Brown County's Sexual Assault Center and the Child Advocacy Center, echoed De Pere Police Chief Derek Biederweiden's contention that restrictive ordinances only serve to drive sex offenders underground.

"Information is what keeps people safe — who they are, where they are, who are their preferred targets," she said.

Holly Ladwig, who identified herself as the Dickinson Elementary School parent-teacher organization vice-president, said it would be a mistake to enact an ordinance that police oppose.

"We should work with our police department to find a solution, not work against them," she said.

The city would not be on firm legal ground trying to enact a restrictive ordinance that would force Bouchonville to move, city attorney Judy Schmitt-Lehman told the council.

Alderman Michael Donovan moved to have staff members draw up a draft ordinance that would restrict sex offenders from moving near Syble Hopp's property lines, but in the end, he was the only alderman who voted for it.

"Residency ordinances do not work," Alderman Scott Crevier said.

"We'd be creating not a safety zone but a false sense of security zone," Alderman Kevin Bauer said.

"As a victim myself, I'd rather know where they're at than not know," Alderman Dean Raasch said. "We can't expect the community to be safe if they go underground."

The council voted instead to direct city staff to organize a study group that would include educators, advocates and other experts to look at other possible solutions.

Parents and Syble Hopp staff declined comment after the meeting. ..Source.. by Paul Srubas

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