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Parents outraged over lack of notification of student sex offenders
5/14/2008 1:20 AM

By ROB NOVIT Senior writer

The mother of four children in Aiken County public schools expressed alarm and anger that parents are not notified when registered sex offenders are enrolled in their children's schools.

"Who allows this to be kept from parents?" C.J. Taylor asked the Aiken County Board of Education at a meeting Tuesday. "We learned about this, not from the school system, but from the outside."

There is no cover-up, said School Board attorney Bill Burkhalter. Federal and state privacy laws prevail in these situations.

"We're not allowed to broadcast to the world or the public that (a student) is going to a high school and is a registered sex offender," Burkhalter said.

Under certain conditions, however, the school district can refuse to admit a student but only for a year, he said.

Generally, when a juvenile completes a sentence or other action imposed by the Department of Juvenile Justice, that person has the right to come back to the school system, said Burkhalter.

"We don't have any right to deny them that education," he said.

Either DJJ or the court system is required to notify school districts about registered sex offenders enrolling in schools. Administrators and teachers are aware of such students, and the students are watched closely, said Burkhalter.

But Taylor and another parent, Sheila Pate, question if such students are being monitored effectively. They acknowledge that information about sex offenders is available on the Internet, but "you can search for your neighborhood, but not who you're going to school with," Pate said.

"I'm appalled," Taylor said. "It's not fair to hundreds of other students that they have to be around these students. This is not the end of this."

Taylor said she would talk to state legislators about her concerns and also see if the sex offender website can be adjusted for additional information.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.







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Comments
12 comment(s) found!

Posted by: Tracie Williams On: 5/16/2008

Comment Title: Not True
"So, it is not consensual sex that gets someone placed on the list. The Solictor evaultes the crime and makes the determination upon age and circumstances. To be placed on the list, the crime would have had to have been severe. Most definitely not a case of consensual sex between minors." Not a true statement. I have several young ladies as students who have told me proudly about people they have had put on the sex offenders list. At the time of the "offense" they were dating the person and once broken up with they became vindictive. That is one thing I have learned from teaching. The claws always come out. The solicitor has made mistakes in the past. I know of one guy who is on the list because of intent to commit sexual assault. He had no intent to commit sexual assault but because the young lady said he did, it's so. How can you prove intent. I have no problem with those who molest children being on the list and with rape, but I don't think all sex offenders should be lumped into one group and I don't think all of the sex offenders on the list should be there. I don't think it should be called out in public either. I have students who will pull up the sex offenders list and I have watched as they have ridiculed these people. Not much information is actually given about the crime. And those young men who have fallen victim to the young vindictive ladies definitely have my sympathy. Their lives have been ruined and they have no chance for a fresh start.

Posted by: Former school teacher On: 5/15/2008

Comment Title: Missing the point
Some of you need to lock your knees in place and READ the article before you post. Ms. Taylor is not judging anyone nor is she condemning anyone other than the Aiken County School Board for not notifiying parents when there are registered sex offenders being placed in public schools. PERIOD. I am well aware of how skewed the sex offender registry is. It is just another govenrment program that started out with the best of intentions and as usual with such programs, has gone horribly wrong. BUT as Ms Taylor stated, that is irelevant to the fact that parents are entitiled to know when persons who are on the registry (for whatever reason) are enrolled in public, tax payer funded schools along with their children. Why is that concept so hard for some of you to grasp? Part of being a parent is being informed with facts so that we can make our own decisions regarding our children. Displaying their typical arrogance and contempt for the parents of school children in Aiken County, the school board VIA William Burkhalter has decided that they know what's best for us better than we do and have decided to withhold information from us that is HIGHLY relevant to decisions that we as parents are entitled to make. THAT is the issue that Ms. Taylor is fighting. NOT who should or should not be on "the list". Think about that before you question her motives or accuse her of being "unforgiving".

Posted by: CJ Taylor On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: NOTIFICATION
Actually TETE, *I* have not decided anything. I am fighting to change the sex offender registry to include notification in schools. I am not picking on anyone and no one "for gave" me... I haven't broken the law. To answer your question, I have received an education. However, I am not on trial nor does this have anything to do with the article. The matter at hand still stands.

Posted by: TETE On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: Let Them get there education.
What is the world coming to. They are God children we are God children why are you picking on them. They have been through enough. God for gave you. Who is you to decide. Mrs. do you have your education.

Posted by: Linda On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: Ricky's Story
Read Ricy's story here www.cfcamerica.org and here www.cfcoklahoma.com

Posted by: sara On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: One other thing . . .
There was an article in the Aiken Standard when this was discovered a few years ago at the Area III Middle School. Larry Murpy was quoted in this article pretty much saying the same thing as Tracie Williams, below. My opinion, we should trust our Solicitor. If they feel the offender needs to be registered, we should be concerned.

Posted by: Sara On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: Response
This came up in a middle school in Area III about 3 years ago. We had a registered sex offender attending 8th grade but no one, not even the school resource officer, was aware of it. A parent just happened upon the info on the website. It is the Solicitor's decision to place someone on the sex offenders list. Not all sex offenders are registered. I know of two cases of date rape where the offendors were not placed on the list and were allowed to do PTI, Pre-Trial Interevention, so there would be no record of the offense. So, it is not consensual sex that gets someone placed on the list. The Solictor evaultes the crime and makes the determination upon age and circumstances. To be placed on the list, the crime would have had to have been severe. Most definitely not a case of consensual sex between minors.

Posted by: C Rodgers On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: parents need to know
I agree with Mrs. Taylor. I feel parents should know who their children are going to school with, especially if there is a registered sex offender at the school. I don't judge people on the list. I even know someone on the list. I understand there are different reasons for being placed on the sex offender list and some of the reasons are poor judgment or impaired judgment as stated in the example by Tracie Williams. Other reasons are malicious and sick such as molestation of children under 6. These are the people I am worried about. I do NOT want to know this information to point and yell, this is a sex offender. I want to know it so I can protect my children. I want to be aware of whom they are attending school with and I want them to be safe at school. All parents should be concerned about this. They should want know who your children spend their day with. A teacher is not allowed to continue teaching if placed on the sex offenders list, shouldn't we be concerned if a student is on it.

Posted by: CJ Taylor On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: Lack of Notification
CJ Taylor to Mother: Please read the heading again. It is a lack of notification. In my opinion, sex offenders in school should be evaluated on a case by case basis, but it is still the need to know. Fight for your cause, I'm fighting for mine...

Posted by: Tracie Williams On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: Aiken County needs to be educated in the truth
Teacher Outraged at Ostracization What is a sex offender? Do people in Aiken county really know what happens to people placed on the sex offenders list. So people in Aiken county really know why people are placed on the sex offenders list. As a teacher I have listened to my students and observed students in the high school and there is one thing I have learned. The sex offenders list is unfair and biased. Here is the scenario. An eighteen year old senior is dating a fifteen year old and they have sex. The parents of the young lady find out and are angry. They have the boy arrested. He is now placed on the sex offenders list and his life is ruined. He can never hold a good job. He will be ostracized for the rest of his life. His picture will be shown at least once on the local news channel and everyone will know where he lives. While they are on probation they cannot be around anyone under the age of 18 because for some reason the fact that they had consensual sex with a minor automatically means that they will molest their younger brothers and sisters. Here is another scenario. The same boy and girl have sex and break up. The girl is furious. To get back at this young man, she reports him. Once again his life is ruined. Nothing happens to the young lady. She is just as guilty. Why shouldn't these young men be allowed to finish their educations. Why should they be ostracized at every opportunity?

Posted by: Mother to Mother On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: The Law ?
http://www.ethicaltreatment.org/criminalization.htm CRIMINALIZATION OF CHILDHOOD SEXUALITY As previously shown, the language used to label children who behave in a sexual manner typically confuses indecent or socially inappropriate behavior with coercion and violence.4 It is one thing to prohibit such behavior and discipline children for it. It is quite another to describe almost any sexual activity among children, even when it is mutually desired, as “molestation,” “abuse,” “assault,” and “rape.” Such language is a slap in the face to those children who have been truly victimized by real abuse. It also misleads the public into thinking that all children who act sexually are dangerous and merit criminal charges. Prosecution of children A recent sexual abuse conference defined “limited exploratory behaviors committed primarily out of curiosity” by juveniles as “deviant sexual behavior.” It referred to these children as “young sex offenders,” adding that “society needs interventions to respond effectively...focusing on protecting the community...”

Posted by: mother to mother On: 5/14/2008

Comment Title: The truth be told
Dear, C.J. Taylor, With 4 children you need to know the FACTS. Take a very hard look at who, why and what these laws are about and how America's children are labeled. Parents just like you don't know the facts, NO ONE is immune, the list is growing. Your ANGER will change hands when you learn the facts. check out: Child Sex Offenders at http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/child-sex-offenders.html 04YearsOld -http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/04YearsOld 05YearsOld -http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/05YearsOld 06YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/06YearsOld 07YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/07YearsOld 08YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/07YearsOld 09YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/09YearsOld 10YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/10YearsOld 11YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/11YearsOld 12YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/11YearsOld 13YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/11YearsOld 14YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/14YearsOld 15YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/14YearsOld 16YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/16YearsOld 17YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/16YearsOld 18YearsOld http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/16YearsOld All Child Sex Offenders (OffenderChild)



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