SPOKANE – As the number of sex offenders enrolled at Spokane Community College has increased, so have questions by faculty and staff about how they should handle these students in the classroom.
Officials say they’re considering a change to the school’s existing policy that does not require students to be alerted when a sex offender registers for a class.
“We have bumbled through this with good intentions,” Terri McKenzie, vice president for student services, told a group of about 40 faculty and staff members at a forum this week. “And we’ll continue to bumble through, hopefully a little better.”
McKenzie, who monitors sex offenders at the college, said their numbers have risen in recent years. When she came to the school in 1999, she encountered the school’s first level 3 sex offender, a rank given to those deemed most likely to offend again.
There are now 20 sex offenders registered at the college: seven level 3s, two level 2s and 11 level 1s. A level 2 offender was expelled this week for viewing pornographic material on a library computer, McKenzie said.
Spokane Community College hasn’t had a recent sex offense on the campus, but the issue came to the forefront this fall after an instructor questioned how to handle an offender in his class.
The debate also has been fueled by intense interest in the arrest of Joseph Duncan, the registered sex offender accused in the slayings of four Coeur d’Alene family members.
At Tuesday’s forum for faculty and staff, McKenzie said the college is putting together a panel to review the school’s policies on sex offender notification, and is planning to provide more guidance to instructors. She said it’s likely that the school will begin notifying all students of the presence of sex offenders in the classroom.
That may help allay the fears of most students, but it may also present obstacles to offenders who are trying to get on with their lives, officials at the forum said.
Dave Bentley, a detective with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, said people often have the mistaken impression that sex offenders commit another crime 90 percent of the time, when it’s really more like 12 percent to 14 percent.
And Bob Bromps, who oversees sex offenders for the Department of Corrections, said notification to other students may deter offenders who are trying to change their lives, sending them back toward crime.
He said sex offenders are a part of the community and aren’t going away. “The majority are going to be out here among us,” he said.
Washington has more than 18,000 registered sex offenders, who are required by law to notify the sheriff if they intend to enroll in a college.
When school officials learn of such an enrollment, they add the information to binders that are available to anyone on campus. If the offenders are levels 2 or 3, instructors and other staffers are notified. Students are usually not told, though McKenzie said they can be if circumstances dictate.
The sex offender students’ progress is monitored regularly, and McKenzie meets with them periodically.
The open enrollment policy at the state’s community colleges allows officials to deny enrollment only if the student would be disruptive or unable to benefit from the classes.
A professor at the Tuesday forum asked why the school didn’t simply declare all level 3 offenders to be a disruptive presence.
McKenzie said she knew several sex offenders who were attending their classes, following the rules, earning good grades and making an honest effort to change.
“I don’t know how we justify those people as disruptive,” she said.
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