Last week two 6 year old girls were at recess and simply walked off the school grounds.
Some time later someone finally noticed the children were nowhere to be found in their classroom and a search started.
The two girls were found a couple blocks away from the school.
Salisbury News has received different stories referencing this matter but when we checked with one WBOE Member, they had no idea this event ever took place.
Folks, I have contacted local politicians, Delegates, Senators and even Congressmen in reference to proposing new legislation in reference to sex offenders not being able to live within a one mile radius of any school.
This is a prime example of why this law should go into effect immediately. Sex offenders are allowed to live 1,000 feet away from any school and this just isn't right. If a child is subjected to walking to school and lives less than a mile away and can't be bussed to school, there is no reason a sex offender shouldn't be required to live more than a mile from a school.
These children were LUCKY! You'll not read anything about this in the Daily Times and you'll not see it on WBOC or WMDT. The Board of Education does a fantastic job keeping this kind of thing away from the Press.
While researching this story I came to learn of another one somewhat similar. A child was at recess and simply walked off the school grounds and walked to their Grandparents home, close to the school. One Elementary school in Salisbury isn't even fenced in.
With the way things are going today, not only should the public be aware of these possibilities, they should use such cases to share with their children just how dangerous it is for them to stray from school grounds.
To secure our children's safety, I urge each and every one of you to contact your local Delegates and at least get them to enforce the 1 mile rule on sex offenders by creating new legislation. If the rest of the state wants to pick up on this legislation, good for them.
I'd certainly enjoy your opinion on this matter. It should also be noted, the parent of one of these children mentioned was away on a business trip. The Guardian contacted the school to find out what was going on and the school, (Delmar Elementary) refused to give her any information. I believe if it is documented that the guardian is responsible for the child, the school should keep them up to speed. What do you think about that as well?
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
36 comments:
sex offender do live with in 1000 feet of Delmar elm
The BOE is at it again , hide the truth and let it blow over , no big deal , NOT! They need more money for the teachers to sleep on duty.What the hell is wrong with these idiots? Teaching is a FULL time job.
I actually think a mile is too close - how about an island out in the middle of the ocean for all sex offenders surrounded by sharks, but since that will never happen, how about 5 miles from a school zone. Parents and teachers today better supervise these little ones real good, cause sex offenders are EVERYWHERE. I would hate to think that I sent my child to school and because he/she was not supervised properly, something happened. Oh, I would not be a happy camper and BOE you can only hide so much and you need to stop hiding these kinds of things anyway, this is not a game. What if something would have happended to one of these two children - would the teacher take responsibility, would the BOE take responsibility, probably not. Contact anyone you can contact and get the sex offenders away from school zones.
Yes child sex offenders should not be near any schools, but this ultimately about the safety of our kids at school. What is the process for the headcount after recess? Is there an opening in the fence around the school that needs to be fixed? I have never been to Delmar Elem, but I can imagine it to be like many other schools in the area, fenced, teachers on duty and all.
So instead of sex offender this and sex offender that, the real problem needs to be addressed....
And as far as other news places 'hiding' this, I most certainly can see this happening here on the shore. Sad, very sad!
C Killian
12:50....im sorry you feel so safe around here...not only could they have been snatched by a predator but they could have been hit by a car, they could have snuck in someone elses car and be gone by now. Open your eyes, there is more danger then just sex offenders....
1:34.....no excuse at all!!!!!! the sub shouldnt be qualified to be a sub if she cant count!
I am sorry to say that I feel quite helpless when it comes to the school system. I'm not sure how parents are going to find out that this happened (other than this website, which I commend Joe for EVERYTHING he has done) but I'm not sure anything will change even if you did make a fuss. We need to figure out how to get this into all of the papers.......
My second comment is important too.
I sat down with my 13 year old daughter that is a student at Seaford Middle School, to check out the Delaware Sex Offender Registry. I was horrified that REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS GO TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Has anyone even really thought to ask that question? I sure didn't. I just thought they didn't go to the same school. My daughter pointed them out and told me exactly who they were and that one boy even has a girlfriend that attends Seaford Middle.
I understand that this kids are juveniles and everyone deserves an education but where do we draw the line and when do they lose their rights. Why should my daughters
(8th grade and 12th grade) have to go to the same school with a registered sex offenders. My daughters, as well as everyone elses children are at risk by not making them go to a school that is not on the same property with other children.
How in the world do we stop this?
Please, check the sex offender registry and see who is attending your childs school and lives in your neighborhood.
It seems to be common practice in a lot of schools on the shore to cover up or ignore the mistakes, accidents, and outright screw up along with the violence, the assaults, and threats. Maybe that's why MD schools are ranked #1 in the nation, because they are just really good at hiding the problems. Eventually it is going to blow up in their faces and boy I can't wait until it happens; I am at the head of the line with proof of unjust practices.
I'm speechless I can't believe they let 2 little girls wander off like that!
The school system has become such an easy scapegoat. No matter what the problem is nowadays, the schools get blamed for not doing enough. Stay with the other kids at recess, listen to your teachers, do not talk to strangers... these are all simple things that should be drilled into kids heads. Surely, tragedies happen but don't throw the blame on the teachers. If a child disappeared from their back yard would the parent be crucified in the court of public opinion for leaving them unsupervised for a few minutes? I think not.
Do not blame a sub, unless you know for a fact that it was one. I sub and I also am about 10 credits away from a master's degree.The security of the students is a sub's number one responsibility on the job.It's so easy to blame the sub.
First of all, the process for selecting substitues is ridiculous, some of these subs are fantastic, some are absolutely horrible. Yes they background check and techically they 'interview' but some of the people who make it through have absolutely no business teaching or being responsible for children.
Secondly, i have witnessed the teachers at recess at delmar elementary. If there are 4 teachers on the playground, 3 are talking to each other and 1 is running around trying to watch all of the children. I point out the 1 because there are teachers there doing their jobs, but if you don't believe me, ride by during recess and see if you don't see 3 or 4 teachers talking to each other. The children actually don't want to tell the teachers if there is a problem b/c they will get punished or yelled at for interrupting, ridiculous!
Excuse me 12:00, Gregory was NOT a gang member. Take your rumors that you've heard and shove 'em. Thanks.
I agree with the parent whose child has a 4.0 and can't do basic math. That's the goal of our school system--high grades, no ability, everyone happy.
my daughter never got off school grounds and a search was not started and I was called right away
anonymous 6:31, I firmly disagree with your statement. Ater receiving your phone call, you admitted, "once they came back" they were taken to the Principal's Office. You were also in Georgia at the time when this happened.
The children would not have been taken to the Principal's Office if they did not leave the school grounds.
I'm not exactly sure why you're so determined to support the school on this matter but like I told you over the phone, we have witnesses that saw what actually happened, (adults) and while you were not even in the state, I'm taking them for their word, with ALL due respect.
You people are so quick to blame the teacher. The teacher could have reported it and then it lies in the hands of the administration. Maybe this happened because the teacher is assigned too many students...in some cases 30 kids to an elementary school classroom. Try monitoring 30 kids running around at the same time. In some cases office staff and instructional assistants are assigned recess duty, not teachers.
Wanna know why education sucks nowadays? There is no respect for teachers and the only people responsible for the success of students are the teachers. How about student accountability. Better yet how about parents being held accountable too! Education is not a one way street. Quit jumping to conclusions and blaming teachers. No one really knows all the facts about what happened...including Mr.Joe.
but i thought this was about the sex offenders not the school like you said on the phone. yes i was out of town and it still does not matter about how i know she never left school grounds. I have been told the truth in the matter,and i'm glad she got sent to the office. the fact is she broke the rules and tryed to leave so she should go to the office. like i said before and she should know how bad the matter could have been.
6:12... There are flaws at every level in schools. I've known grad students who can barely write an entire paragraph, dean's list students who can't calculate 20% of a restaurant check, etc. Thats just life... But education isn't solely the responsibility of the schools. Reading, writing, basic math, like skills, etc. should be taught at home and be a continued through childhood and adolescence. My parents didn't just throw me on the school bus and say "good luck!".
Rob S
has anyone bothered to look at the registry of sex offenders??? almost every resturant and pizza place in salisbury has at least one working there.... zias has a long time employee...
until they make it impossible for the offenders to live in society, they will be whereever they want to be.
delmar elem school rocks!! number one in the area, at least their are not drugs being sold on campus like most salisbury schools!
If you look in the registry 1 sex offenders works at 106 Spruce Street, which is very, very close to Delmar Elementary.
In other Delmar news, the Delmar BOE passed the resolution to move 5th grade to the middle school. (it was that or bus them to East Salisbury)
Kids walk or run out of schools all the time and the principals are constantly chasing them down. Little Johnny gets mad nowadays and runs out the door. The doors aren't locked from the inside (fire hazzard) and kids can just run out if they so choose.
Also, if a teacher is in a room full of kids teaching and a child needs to use the bathroom, the child goes out into the hallway to use the bathroom alone. The hallways are not constantly monitored by anyone. Most schools now have video monitoring in the hallways, but nobody just sits and watches the video. So, there isn't anything stopping a student from just walking to the end of the hall and going out the door. By the time a teacher realizes they are missing, the student could be long gone.
There is no cover-up going on here. If everything that happens in the schools was published in this blog, there wouldn't be room for anything else and Joe would never get any sleep. I've seen students run out of school and be chased down by the admin, students strapped to a strecher and taken to the hospital for psych eval, teachers kicked and bitten by students, among many other things. Surprisingly, all that has occured at the elementary school level.
7:21 I must disagree with you. Apparently you don't know that Northwestern Elementary recently was awarded with a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. I don't recall Delmar Elementary getting that award. I am happy where my son goes to school! Northwestern Elementary Rocks!
9:21 Delmar Middle and High schools were one of the first in the whole country to get a "superior" rating after the "No Child Left Behind Act" was made law. It's not the elementary school, but the whole Delmar system from K-12 that is amazing.
Believe me, when your kids go to either middle or high school in Wicomico County you'll wish they were in Delmar.
7:20 you are so right. It's scary to see where they work. I'd much rather them work in the poultry plants as many of them do where there are no children there.
I substitute taught years ago while in between jobs and when I had recess duty, I always watched the kids and looked out for them. Maybe this was because I am a mother and this is how I wanted my child to be taken care of. I have always taken my job duties seriously, no matter what job I've been in. I regularly noticed teachers talking to one another and not doing their jobs watching the children at recess like the should. I was very bothered by the kids who were fighting or rough housing or doing unsafe things on the equipment. And the guest who commented that the kids get yelled at for interrupting is correct! I've seen this first hand at several Wicomico schools over the years. I've also seen it at my daughter's day care when she was little when I would do a surprise visit. I would encourage parents to ride by their children's daycares and schools on their lunch breaks every now and then to see what goes on.
to Anonymous 3:34,
I could not agree w/you more. I live in Wicomico County and was recently told by a teacher at one of the high schools in Salisbury that she has a sex offender in her classroom and the victim is in the same classroom too!!! I was SHOCKED AND OUTRAGED to hear this! How can this be therapeutic for the victim? We as society and our children's rights should be more important than the rights of the offenders and I don't care if they are juveniles! They know better. The civil liberties people and the bleeding heart liberals have put our kids in harm's way by not allowing their names to be on the sex offender lists. They should be on the list regardless of age, and should not be permitted to attend public schools. Maybe we need to have the juvenile delinquents and sex offenders home schooled so the rest of the kids can feel safe in public schools rather than the other way around. I used to work in a job where I had knowledge of problem kids involved w/juvenile services and in some cases foster care doing heinous crimes to animals and other children and was shocked to learn these and sex offender students were riding public school busses and attending public schools! Most of you would be shocked! We need reform in this area too!
This is much bigger than jus sex offenders, I moved here from ocean city an as I remember I don't care how close u lived from the school u still would be picked up from the bus. When I found out that my son whom is in first grade would be walking to school because we lived within a mile I was heated. How can they say it is ok for these young kids to walk to school, the ones who passed this law maybe got it like that to have a vehical to jus drive there children well not everyone has such means. Now if I let my seven year old walk to my sisters house which lives about the same distance from my home to the school an something happend to him, hit by a car or snatched by one of these perverts then I would be on the front page of the paper as the worst parent for lettin him walk that far alone an would probally be charged with child endangerment but it is ok for the school to allow these young kids to walk all this way at seven in the morning. I disagree with the shcool board lettin them walk I don't care where they live they should be picked up period... mad parent....
9:38.....My kids do not go to public school but if they did, I would rather them go to a middle or high school in Salisbury NOT Delmar! Delmar has always covered up how many of their kids are actually selling and doing drugs, and coming to Salisbury to fight and cause trouble. I won't even let my kids hang out with Delmar kids because the small town effect keeps the families with too many secrets and cover ups about how bad their children really are behaving. They cuss and smoke right at the park but their parents deny that anything is going on. It's not the smartest of towns, that's for sure!
106 Spruce Street. Too close to the school.
What is the law for a sex offender working that close to the school?
I've checked into that. That is a residential area. The business may be run from there, but there is no business actually located there.
8:26. You probably should keep your kids in Wicomico County. If they are anything like you, we don't want them in Delmar either.
2:03....It's quite obvious as to why you don't want any truth in Delmar. And you never have to be concerned about my family & I moving there....you can keep the sickness of secrets to yourselves.
Trust me, there are no secrets in Delmar. One person knows, everybody knows. What secrets do you think need to be kept? We don't have gangs in our schools, we don't have a homicide every 48 hours, we do have drug busts, but it is usually the trash coming from our southern neighbors. For the most part our children are well behaved. Neighbors look out for one another and help each other in times of need. We run our government better than Salisbury does and we have to deal with two states and two counties to do it. We don't have overspending or undermining. We have a fire department who works for every dime they have and a school board who understands the importance of family and keeping it together. We do have some shortfalls, but we try to identify them and fix them instead of passing the buck. We do have some pretty bumpy roads and the unsightly Lecates building, but other than that, I'd say we win. Now, I guess I've let the secret out.
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