NEENAH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Parents were upset to find out a volunteer at a Neenah elementary school was identified as a sex offender.
The volunteer was a father who came to his son’s class at Washington Elementary School.
The school district said a background check was not required but is taking action to change that.
“It’s very disappointing that this hasn’t been thought of ahead of time,” said Joshua Vanden Heuvel, a parent of a child attending Neenah School District tells FOX 11.
“I hope we don’t come across anything more like this.”
Superintendent Mary Pfeiffer said the sex offender was a parent who volunteered 3 times last month, for half an hour at a time.
Pfeiffer said the volunteer never went on any field trips or had additional contact with students.
The superintendent tells FOX 11 while the volunteer was in the classroom, he was always in the presence of multiple staff members.
“There was no deviation between him going from the office to the classroom, but that’s not an excuse so, I don’t want to make it sound like it wasn’t serious because it is very serious of what took place.”
Pfeiffer said the district currently doesn’t recommend a background check for volunteers who are under direct supervision of staff members.
“For those who were minimally supervised or take children in a small group alone, then we currently do a background check.”
Pfeiffer first became aware of the volunteer’s background earlier this month.
“When it was brought to my attention, that immediately stopped, we pressed pause and said that this cannot happen.”
She sent out an email to parents briefing the situation.
School leaders are now recommending a policy change which would include: background checks on all volunteers and it would prohibit any identified sex offenders to volunteer.
“It’s better late than never but it’s shocking,” said Vanden Heuvel.
Parents say they’re glad action is being taken and hope nothing like this happens again.
The school board will vote on the policy changes during today’s board meeting.
