Michigan Sex Registry and Howell Public Schools: Are Our Kids Safe?

Michigan has an excellent tracking system for sexual predators called the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry (PSOR). Any interested party can enter a zip code and find a detailed listing of sex offenders in the area by using a simple Web site form.

In Howell, Michigan, there are 78 registered sex offenders. Of those 78, photographs are available for 57 offenders. In those 57 photographs, 17 of the offenders are smiling. 18 sex offender's details reveal criminal sexual conduct involving minor children. Many others simply state "multiple variables" which could mean children are involved.

Howell Public Schools has recently been under attack for an alleged incident between three minor elementary students accused of sexual misconduct on the bus ride home this past May. In discussing this with a neighbor, we spoke of the number of registered sexual predators along our own bus route in Marion Township. This lead to discussing the Howell Public Schools Scanner, a publication listing all buses and addresses of bus stops with the time the bus picks up students. This publication is sent out to Howell residents each fall.

My neighbor was unaware that this information is also readily available as a PDF file on the Howell Public Schools website. Access to this file, and the Scanner is available to anyone who chooses to seek it out. The Scanner is readily available at multiple locations if one doesn't find it's way into your mailbox. When the Scanner arrives it is addressed to "the parents of" but ultimately this information could be delivered directly into the hands of 78 registered sex offenders in the Howell area, providing a roadmap of opportunity for child predation with times and places.

So, while bus safety and actions occurring on the bus have been the topic of dispute, anger and astonishment for Howell residents and the surrounding area, perhaps we need to look at transportation policy in general. Is there another way this information can be disseminated rather than to the public at large? Could Howell Public Schools only send busing information pertinent to the individual families rather than listing each and every bus stop address and time of pick up?

In the coming days, Howell Public Schools will be holding meetings to discuss the alleged bus incidents involving students of Southwest Elementary School last May, and revamping transportation regulations to insure such an incident does not occur again. I have every confidence the administration will seek the best path available to ensure our children's safety. However, awareness of potential child predators and the way in which Howell Public Schools treats bus route information is another topic that bears looking into.

Public registries and databases of any sort are an important means of providing information to concerned citizens, but perhaps some issues need further exploration - like the reason why 17 of the 57 photographed Howell, Michigan sex offenders are smiling in their photographs. Maybe they have also thought about the road map for predation that the publicly available school bus route time and address information provides while out children wait unsuspecting at those designated locations.