The Virginian-Pilot
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Well, what do you know? Virginia Beach public school officials have wisely decided to ditch a pricey sex-offender screening program before tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars were wasted on such lunacy.
(Of course, this enhanced security system did nab a pizza delivery guy with a record of sex offenses who was trying to - get this - deliver pizzas to the office of a middle school, which had ordered them.)
It's tempting to applaud educators for this bold display of common sense. We'll resist that temptation, though, because they explained that the program was scrapped because of tight finances and not because the sex-offender-detector essentially addressed a problem that doesn't exist.
The security system is designed to run the names of every school visitor through a national sex offender list. When there's a match, school officials are notified and the miscreant can be led away in handcuffs.
Smart, since we all know that sex offenders flock to schools because of the notoriously lax security.
Actually, that's not true. Not only is it often a felony for a convicted sex offender to venture onto school property, but most schools also already follow strict procedures designed to keep all strangers away from the kids. It usually involves locks and intelligent human beings who require visitors to show ID, sign in and out, and have a legitimate purpose for their visit.
The computer system would have cost $120,000 the first year and $36,288 annually if it had been installed in all Beach schools. What a waste. Especially when you consider that the starting salary for a teacher in the city is $38,597.
I'm old school when it comes to education. I think scarce resources ought to be spent on teachers, not gadgets designed to do little more than give overly nervous parents a false sense of security.
The pilot program was tried in three Beach schools this spring. The lone hit was the pizza man with a criminal past who was caught while dropping off a few extra-cheese delicacies to the Larkspur Middle School office.
It's true he wasn't supposed to be on school property. But were the kids in danger as he came through the door carrying a stack of greasy boxes? No. Do we even know that his crimes involved children? No. Was he charged with a felony for his actions? No.
School officials say they summoned the commonwealth attorney's office and the state and local police. It was decided that because the school ordered the pizza and the driver was simply doing his job, this was not a case that ought to be prosecuted.
What do you know? More common sense. This time from law enforcement.
We all want to keep kids safe. Truth is, schools do a remarkable job of keeping strangers from roaming the hallways. Anecdotally speaking, it seems kids are more likely to be harmed by classmates, teachers or coaches.
It isn't just Virginia Beach that fell for this security system. Chesapeake public schools installed a sex-offender detector system at the start of last school year. That one cost a whopping $268,400 and, according to news reports, hasn't even caught a shady pizza man yet.
By the way, Chesapeake used federal stimulus loot to pay for that system. Any wonder so few jobs were created by that massively expensive program out of Washington?
Naturally, some parents were delighted with the added layer of security. Others saw it for what it was - a windfall for private security firms, an empty gesture on the part of schools.
Here it comes. Any minute now, someone is going to trot out the tired "If it saves just one child, it's worth it" argument. Spare us. If we follow that logic, we should hire personal bodyguards for students.
Geez. I hope that doesn't give anyone an idea.
Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net
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We have got to stop living in fear!
At least they caught that pizza delivery guy. I wonder what he was busted for, anyway? It sounded like it was nothing too serious. That is the problem with sex offender laws as they stand, people who were convicted of something stupid, not depraved or dangerous go on the list. If its a misdemeanor, it should not count as a sex offense. We have got to start using the thinking parts of our brains, not the "I'm afraid of my own shadow part." I wonder if the people who passed this know that 95% of children who are molested are molested by a family member or someone else close to them. Stranger danger is overrated. Besides, if someone is planning on doing someone sketchy on school grounds, I doubt they are going to sign in first.
More Non-Sensical Decisions
And speaking of "common sense," another phenomena is developing. VBCPS seems to be increasing non-SOL class sizes in their attempt to cut back on teachers.
So, they are sacrificing the learning of 5, 6, 7 year olds, in an attempt to better "test to the test." Follow the research..small class sizes, especially for at-risk children, are more beneficial than Promethean Boards and other technology.
WHO'S REALLY ON THE REGISTRY ??
Thanks for this- yes, a little ray of reason in an ocean of extreme overreaction, ignorance and witch hunt hysteria..
FOR ANYONE WHO CARES TO KNOW, HERE'S WHO IS MOSTLY ON THE REGISTRY.
If someone is 19& has a girlfriend 15 or 16& it's consensual -If someone reports it (often malicious), if someone gets drunk & urinates in a public place, if someone sees a teen prostitute (Even if she lied abt her age), if someone streaks or moons someone, they can& do end up on the registry. Oh,& the "child" porn-?almost all of it is teens. Is there NO difference in your mind bet. a man going after a 10 yr. old & someone LOOKING at a 15 or 16 yr. old posing nude or doing something sexual on the net? Distinctions don't seem to matter when it comes to sex o
VBCPS needs to worry a
VBCPS needs to worry a little more about class sizes and a little less about the next new technology.
Incongruities
Its a felony for sex offenders to be on school property is a protective law that works. Laws forbiding felons to posses guns are not considered strict enough.
Any dog can maul somebody, but we need to ban “pit bull type” dogs.
a waste of money
After fellow strudents, the greatest danger to our children from sexual assault on school grounds is from teachers, coaches and other school personnel, not some random stranger or even from volunteers. This was just another example of the lack of commonsense and the spendthrift ways of our school officials. This is way I am all in favor of cutting schools budgets.
All school employees
All school employees including substitutes etc at least undergo background checks. Yet, the many many people who spend a lot of time in the schools without being formally employed do not. At a minimum, regular volunteers could undergo background checks like our kids' coaches, scout leaders, and others do. Many school systems do this. The greatest danger to kids in terms of predators is not teachers and staff in particular, but rather someone known to them.
Background checks
Simple solution, require the volunteers to undergo background checks, as other districts do. As past President of a PTA you obviously have connections to the powers that be - use them.
How far reaching do you go?
Would you examine every person that crosses school property? Landscapers that only work during the summer? Parents that volunteer at Field Day exercises? All it would take is for one person to slip through the cracks and the whole system will look like a waste of money. They can search online for convicted perverts adn create their own database if they wanted. There are other options than spending more money.
Especially Field Day
Field day, another example of all of the new activities invented for schools during the 80's and 90's. Of all of the 'extras" I happen to like Field Day if it doesn't sacrifice the instructional time.... Unless the parents are tutoring in math and reading or augmenting the staff in the cafeteria, I really don't see why so many parents need to be in the schools on a daily basis. Unless this volunteerism can be directly linked to increased achievement of the students, the number of people streaming in and out of schools on a daily basis should be reduced.