Following Entry Posted 12/15/2007 09:19:00 AM

Student Suspended for Warning of Sex Offenders in School

(Gig Harbor, Washington) Last week, a student at Gig Harbor High School, Raydon Gilmore, was suspended for posting warning fliers about two convicted juvenile sex offenders who attend his school.

Three other students, names are withheld, were also suspended for the same infraction. The sex offender students are listed as a Level 1 and a Level 2, respectively considered to be low-risk and moderate-risk of re-offending.

According to Gig Harbor Principal Greg Schellenberg, Gilmore and three other students were suspended for three days for harassment and misuse of school equipment.

The students, he said, used a school printer to produce "dozens" of fliers with the sex offenders' pictures, home addresses and other personal information.

Schellenberg said the students taped the fliers on vending machines and a pingpong table and dropped them outside bathrooms. The school's security cameras caught some of them in the act.

The principal said the students should have brought their concerns to a teacher or an administrator. They also violated a rule that state officials must approve any materials that students post on campus walls.

Apparently, legislative guidance on notifications regarding sex offenders in school is minimal. The sheriff notifies the principal and the principal notifies the sex offender's teachers. That's it. Neither students nor parents are notified. In fact, all cognizant parties are cautioned to be low key regarding the sex offender's presence among other students.

Principal Schellenberg says that the school administrators "at least periodically, try to point parents where to find information."

If students want to talk about a sex offender who attends school, that's fine, he said. Distributing offenders' information and opening their convictions to a "public forum" at school isn't.

"We want everybody to feel safe and comfortable," Schellenberg said. "It's hard to imagine anyone feeling that way with fliers being posted about them."

Therefore, the school makes "everyone" feel safe and comfortable by not disclosing when a sex offender is present. Simply put, they are kept in the dark. Like it or not, that's the system. Unfortunately.

All responsibility resides with the principal to make sure adequate measures are implemented to confidentially monitor the sex offender students and hopefully preclude any future criminal behavior. As a reminder, the sex offender information is available but one has to specifically be looking for it.

All in all, the issue remains contentious as Gilmore and his mother, Meloney Garthe, continue to complain about the suspensions. Gilmore maintains that he was concerned about vulnerable girls in the student body and he would do the same thing again. His mother says that she is proud of her son for doing a public service.

My take? Convicted sex offenders should not be allowed near public high schools, much less inside.

Companion post at Education Watch International.
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