A Rape at Roosevelt
Sad news. An 18-year old Roosevelt student has been charged with raping a developmentally disabled girl. They had been dating for several weeks but he got her to skip class and go into a girl's bathroom where he touched her inappropriately and only stopped when another student came in. The girl reported it to a counselor. The attack happened on May 20th and the offender was arrested. He was charged May 25th.
What makes this particularly difficult is that the male student is a Level II sex offender. Only certain staff at Roosevelt knew this and certainly no students or parents. State law does not require this information to be given out to a school community. He could go to prison for up to 14 months if convicted of this second crime.
It's a pretty delicate thing to provide for the safety of students and yet allow this student to continue his education. I'm not sure I understand the choice of a regular high school versus a small re-entry where he could be better monitored.
UPDATE: Well, this is very troubling. From KOMO TV news:
Patti Spencer, a spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools, said the King County Sheriff's Office alerted the school about Reyes' sex offender status. However, Spencer claims appropriate measures were not taken because the sheriff's office did not alert the district as well.
"Yes, the school was notified; the district was not," she said. "We did not receive that information at central office. What happens when we receive that information at central office (is) there's a detailed assessment done, agreement about an appropriate placement of the student, and safety and behavior plans."
When asked why school officials didn't alert the district, Spencer said, "It's very clear that we will need to have a conversation with the other agencies involved to ensure there's absolute clarity about the flow of information."
What makes this particularly difficult is that the male student is a Level II sex offender. Only certain staff at Roosevelt knew this and certainly no students or parents. State law does not require this information to be given out to a school community. He could go to prison for up to 14 months if convicted of this second crime.
It's a pretty delicate thing to provide for the safety of students and yet allow this student to continue his education. I'm not sure I understand the choice of a regular high school versus a small re-entry where he could be better monitored.
UPDATE: Well, this is very troubling. From KOMO TV news:
Patti Spencer, a spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools, said the King County Sheriff's Office alerted the school about Reyes' sex offender status. However, Spencer claims appropriate measures were not taken because the sheriff's office did not alert the district as well.
"Yes, the school was notified; the district was not," she said. "We did not receive that information at central office. What happens when we receive that information at central office (is) there's a detailed assessment done, agreement about an appropriate placement of the student, and safety and behavior plans."
When asked why school officials didn't alert the district, Spencer said, "It's very clear that we will need to have a conversation with the other agencies involved to ensure there's absolute clarity about the flow of information."
Comments
I don't think allowing a sex offender into the school, or not supervising him as a sex offender is SPS's fault. The courts determine if a student can attend school. Once that is determined the schools have a legal obligation to serve that student.
I wish the court would have only allowed this student to be enrolled in a re-entry school, where supervision is much much closer. Or maybe at they could have placed him in an institutional facility like Ryther (that has a strong juvenile sex offender program), and a school program.
"Level 2 offenders have a moderate risk of re-offending. They generally have more than one victim and the abuse may be long term. These offenders usually groom their victims and may use threats to commit their crimes. These crimes may be predatory with the offender using a position of trust to commit their crimes. Typically these individuals do not appreciate the damage they have done to their victims"
Does this really sound like someone who should have been allowed with the general student population? Couldn't this student have been sent to community college or distance learning for a GED instead?
http://www.kirotv.com/news/23761147/detail.html
Police: Teen Sex Offender Raped Special Ed Student At School
To what extent did the staff at Roosevelt have a responsibility to oversee this student's activities with regard to risk of recidivism?
To what extent is the staff at Roosevelt trained for that work?
To what extent would the staff at Roosevelt have authorization to intervene in this relationship between two students? Are all student couples subject to school staff approval?
What other authorities were following up with this student? Was the student outside of all Court authority?
Students who are in the court system (or in the SpEd system) for behavioral problems, some of which include hurting their fellow students have legal rights. They should have legal rights. But, we need to have a more open discussion about how those rights can be protected within the context of protecting the other children.
I think in some cases, the school district is choosing the plan of keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that nothing bad happens. That might be a cheaper plan in the short run, but it's wrong. And, even just purely economically, I suspect it's not a cheaper plan in the long run.
I don't know the legality of these decisions but just as you would like to know which child at school is a sex offender you would like to know if you are sending your kid for a sleepover at a sex offenders house.
What is the law on identifying these offenders - adult and minor? While public safety would seem to argue for their identification, what chance is there of juvenile sex offenders becoming anything other than outcast and (in my view) likely to re-offend, if they are publicly identified by this label through schooling?
I see that there is a rather grievous sounding sex offender at Eckstein. Are there policies in place to maintain the safety of that school community?
http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/sheriff/SOSearch.aspx
While this is easy to do for a sleepover, it's impossible to do at a school like Roosevelt where families do not have access to a list of the names of all registered students.
Families have to rely on the school and our justice system to keep our kids safe and that is SCARY.
Helen Schinske
On the other hand, I can understand that teacher knowledge of information of this type might create a situation where the student is treated poorly by staff who will hold this information against the offender student. If they have served their time, they have the right to rejoin society. Yes, as adult sex offenders, they must register and their identity and previous criminal history is made public. However, the records of minors are kept confidential and knowledge of their offender "registration" status is limited.
It is a delicate balance between the rights of those on both sides of the issue