Florida Department of Education Responds to Letter
In November, FAC sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education after we had received complaints from parents who were denied access to their children’s school events.
Below is the response from the Department of Education confirming that there is no State law that precludes a parent who is required to register from attending a parent-teacher conference, graduation, school play or other events in their child’s life, so long as they meet the conditions set forth in the Statute (§ 856.022). If you are a parent, not on probation and your child’s school is preventing you from attending such an event, please know the law and remind them of it.
February 17, 2020
Ms. Gail Colletta
Dear Ms. Colletta:
Commissioner Richard Corcoran, Florida Department of Education (Department), asked the Department’s Office of Safe Schools to respond to your November 8, 2019, correspondence regarding “children of parents who are required to register as sexual offenders.” The Office of Safe Schools is pleased to respond on behalf of the Commissioner.
For assistance, we contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) office of Missing Persons & Offender Registration. FDLE provided the following information:
We are not aware of any restrictions in Florida’s sex offender registration statutes related to a registrant’s ability to participate in or be present at school functions or meetings. There is a procedure outlined in section 856.022, Florida Statutes, that applies when a registrant plans to attend an event at a child care facility or school.
However, individuals required to register may also be required to adhere to other court ordered restrictions and/or laws in terms of their contact or proximity with children or others, which may impact their ability to attend events at a child’s school.
Factors that could impact such a scenario include:
-
- The individual is currently under supervision for their offense and may require permission from their probation officer or may have a court ordered restriction impacting their attendance;
- The victim(s) of their offense is a student, faculty, or staff member at the school where they wish to attend the function, and the individual is restricted from contact or proximity to victim(s) and/or their school/place of work; or
- The individual must comply with other court ordered directives, local laws and ordinances, or school board policies.
We are not familiar of any specific policies or procedures that districts have in place that may influence these scenarios. Individual districts would be best place to contact for that information.
Should you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Ms. Debra Sheets by calling 850-245-7859 or email [email protected].
Sincerely,
Damien Kelly, Executive Director
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The whole “sex offense” hysteria is only something like 20 years old. There have been people with sexual offenses long before that and there was no registry and no school or hospital turned anyone away.
I keep saying this and I’ll keep saying it; When attorneys fight these restrictions and ordinances, they need to remind the elders of the legislature (who all should know this information) that there was a time BEFORE a registry and the sexual crime rate hasn’t changed.
There was a time BEFORE the registry and people with sex offenses on their criminal records were not barred from going into their own child’s school.
Then pose the question: “What happened?” (Even tho we know the answer which is that the registry fear mongers the public) let these people in politics answer it. I guarantee you they won’t be able to without stumbling over their words.
Do you think that Hospital visiting rules would have a similar process??
No, Public Schools are publc. Hospitals are generally privately owned.
That’s a pretty long-winded deflection.
I don’t think so.
They are confirming that there is no State law or Department of Education policy that prohibits a registrant parent from attending their child’s event at their school!
Our members are being told they could not.
This all sounds great but when you throw in ordinances by county, i.e. Brevard County Ordinance 2006-31, you might as well throw this commentary out. Every bureaucracy is a ‘kingdom’ unto itself. No body is in charge and everybody is in charge.
So registrant is barred from attending school events unless they have followed the procedure in the statute AND adhere to the school district’s policies.
I take it that in a home rule state such as ours, the school district has significant leeway, no?
Still, I thank them for their candid response and especially thank FAC for getting this conversation going.
I also appreciate the Department’s use of the term “registrant” which I hope will become more mainstream.
Bottom line – Some schools instituted the Raptor system, which flagged some of our members. They were told they were no longer allowed on the school campus to attend their child’s events and cited to the State Law for the reason why. THEY WERE WRONG!
Registrant parents CAN attend their children’s school events under State law and Dept of Ed policy, they just need to notify the school and if required, be supervised while on campus.
If an individual school district or individual school has a separate policy, that’s a one-off that will have to be handled separately.
I was flat out told NO I could not do the doughnuts with dad breakfast with my daughter. They told me I was not allowed. So I politely told them to kiss my ass and took my daughter out of school and went to breakfast and then shopping. This is good to know.
It is great they don’t say “$EX offenders” but “registrants” is too polite and semi-legitimate looking. I much prefer “People Forced to Register”.
I never cease to be amazed how long it can take government at any level to respond to a simple request, especially when the answer is as straight forward and brief as this one. Did it really need to take 3 months?
Alan, this is FAST for the government. We have requests out there that have taken MUCH longer.
That doesn’t make it right. My point is, they take forever on purpose, no matter how quick the answer should be able to be generated.