Oh, Lisa. I'm so sorry. I check it every so often. There is a sex-offender not too far from here, but no one we know -- no one the kids know. It is puke-makingly scary.
Before I resigned from the Christian Education committee at church, we got word that one of our congregants was a past sex offender (on a comparatively mild charge, and we got it through the grapevine, but it was verifiable enough).
At the time, I wasn't only chairing the CE committee, I was Sunday School Superintendent. Our church Council (this is a congregational church, so basically the model for representative gov't in this country) is the ruling body (second only to the congregation), made up of the chairs of all the committees. Council is the one that got word of the S.O. They're the ones that broke the news to me. They already had a decision -- all children under a certain grade had to be escorted from Sunday School to the vestry after Sunday School (which happens during the service and ends about the same time). I delivered it to the teachers at the time.
I'd already implemented state background checks on all teachers and national S.O. registry checks, too. While I was chief bitch in charge, we also ensured that all classrooms had two (checked) adults, so that one adult was never alone with the kids (this was already a liability insurance mandate, but our compliance was 50/50 before my tenure).
I resigned because one of the teachers gave me a ration of shit (IN FRONT OF THE KIDS), because she had to walk her second and third grade students (which, at the time, included my youngest kid and HER youngest kid) down to the vestry, rather than dismissing them and allowing them to walk down alone.
I still have a hard time returning to the church. Not because I think any kids are at risk. This was a one off. They're no more at risk than at McDonald's and probably far less. I have a hard time, because this woman was so fricking offended that she had to walk the kids down to the coffee hour where their parents were waiting. I still don't get it, as either an administrator or a parent. What bugs extra is that she's a public school teacher, so she is not unacquainted with. It also bugs how nasty and riled up she got with me, in front of the kids. I went home and cried for (not exaggerating) 3 days. Then I snapped out of it and said, "Fuck her, then." Because really? Fuck her then.
I'm not sure how or why my sympathizing turned into an all-about-me spew. It wasn't meant to, but I've been holding it in forever and it feels so good to let it go, because Fuck her, then.