Posted on 06/08/2016 7:57:03 AM PDT by Gamecock
An investigation by Greenville County Schools into how a man listed on the South Carolina sex offender registry was able to go on an overnight field trip to Charleston found that staff failed to perform a needed check in its registration system.
That system, called Hall Pass, also failed to flag the man as a sex offender on two previous checks, the district said.
The man was a parent chaperone on two trips – one day trip to Atlanta in September 2015 and on an overnight trip to Charleston on May 17.
The district said it has been unable to determine why the Hall Pass system failed to identify the parent as a sex offender on the two occasions, but said it “seems likely the State’s process of transferring sex offender records from the existing “Offender Watch” system to its newly implemented “SORT” (Sex Offender Registry Tool) software may have interrupted accurate reporting on at least one of these occasions.”
A Greenville News investigation in May found discrepancies in the state’s new SORT system months after the State Law Enforcement Division began to switch from its previous system, Offender Watch.
While the 5th grade class at Woodland Elementary School was en route to Charleston for a field trip, the school received a phone tip that the chaperone was on the sex offender registry, the district said. When the class arrived at its hotel to check in, a Charleston Police officer was already waiting and the parent was removed from the trip.
The parent never had the opportunity to be alone with students on either field trip, the district said.
Woodland personnel failed to follow school district protocols that require volunteer checks immediately prior to field trips, the district said. Instead, the personnel used clearance received in September for the field trip in May. The school district said it has addressed the failure to perform the needed checks with the individuals responsible.
Personnel had also performed a search on the man using the Hall Pass system in March 2015 and neither search flagged him as an offender, the district said.
Hall Pass records support assertions by the Woodland staff that the system did not flag him as a sex offender in either instance, though he has been identified by the system as a sex offender in every test run since the day of the field trip, the district’s investigation found.
In response, the district has made changes to its field trip checks and will now require chaperones to undergo a sex offender check no earlier than the Monday prior to the trip. A dated copy of the pre-trip checks will be kept with field trip records.
It will also require an annual criminal background check on potential chaperones, similar to a pre-employment screening required for district employees. Any system alerts will be assigned to someone in the district’s information security office for follow up.
The investigation was conducted by the Greenville County Schools Coordinator of School Safety and Emergency Preparedness, who is a retired law enforcement investigator.
Ping
Curious as to the nature of his offense.
Was 17 and had 15 yr old GF?
Got caught urinating behind a business?
Those are not what the system was designed for, but folks get caught up in it because of the tyranny of the legal system.
All we know is that the person is male and is a father to one of the students.
If courts would execute or jail sex offenders for life, this wouldn’t be an issue.
When does the cost of overnight field trips, for students who can’t read or do math, outweigh the “benefit”?
He is a sex offender and is a parent? Why is the kid still with him then?
Let’s go with the best-case scenario. Let’s say he was of no danger to the students.
Still... legally he was on the sex offender list because of some conviction in a court of law. This school district and the ‘system’ they used failed to identify that.
There was a flaw in that ‘system’, and hopefully what has now happened is that they have taken that extra ‘step’ to ensure this cannot happen any more.
Unless it isn’t just a middle aged white guy.
Surprising things that can make you a sex offender:
http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-things-that-could-make-you-a-sex-offender-2013-10
Why couldn't this perv use the bathrooms at Target, like all the other pervs?
meanwhile any registered Republicans who voted for Trump were barred from going...
I won’t defend the guy, but I will attack the system, as there are many sex offenders who are not on the list, but at the same time there are many men on the list who are not actual “sex offenders” per se.
Methinks the MSM is creating fear with this story, and it is a nothing burger.
Because of the piss poor performance of our MSM, I very carefully look for the info that ISN’T included in the story too, since it reveals much sometimes.
If only chaperones could marry, this would never happen.
What ever happened to common sense?
South Carolina Ping 
Send FReepmail to join or leave this list.
Keep up with what our Congresscritters (House and Senate) are doing. Sign up for the free MegaVote email service here.
Ping PS - Visit the SC FReepers discussion board here.
If they only moved chaperones from one district to another.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.