Juvenile sex and kidnapping offenders under the supervision of juvenile detention departments are regularly enrolled in public schools throughout the state of Washington. The Legislature, recognizing that the presence of these offenders in school is often misunderstood, has responded to the need for a fair information dissemination process by directing the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to draft a new policy outlining notification requirements and to assist school districts with implementing the policy.
Under the directive, OSPI has convened a work group, which is developing policy with broad-based input from various individuals and organizations that have contact with the youth, such as juvenile probation counselors and educational service districts.
The ultimate goal is to have a policy that can be shared with school districts across the state, providing consistency wherever the student is enrolled and helping administrators with decision-making in potentially volatile situations. It will also address other mandated topics, such as the identification of school personnel who are in a position to recognize high-risk situations.
The OSPI policy development process will take several months, but under HB 2101, which took effect Sept. 1, Washington school districts are now required to implement new notification requirements for sexual and kidnapping offenders. According to the requirements, registered youth offenders must notify the county sheriff of their intent to enroll in school. The sheriff will then provide the school principal with a list of students and identifying information, such as address, date of birth, aliases, photographs and a description of the crime.
After receiving information, the principal is responsible for disseminating it within the school setting. How the principal shares the information is determined by the classification of the youth offender (which is determined by local law enforcement) and to a degree by what the principal believes is reasonable and necessary. Generally, for low-risk youth, the principal can determine on a case-by-case basis who should be notified. For youth classified as medium- or high-risk, the principal must at a minimum notify all the student’s teachers and any other personnel who supervise the student or for security reasons should be informed. Community notification remains the responsibility of local law enforcement.
WSSDA staff and members are playing an important role in drafting the policy. For Battle Ground board member Frederick Striker, this is a continuation of his work on previous juvenile and sex offender legislation. "This is extremely important work because at the local level the students, staff and community expect the school board to have the proper policy in place to address the education of the youth offender in an environment that is safe for everyone," said Striker.
The workgroup is required to complete its work by Nov. 15, 2006. At that time, OSPI will submit a final report to the Legislature along with recommendations from the work group. Upon completion of the final report, WSSDA’s policy and legal services staff will issue a WSSDA-recommended policy.
