Trustees Approve Policy on Megan's Law

By Dave Mock

Policies on "Megan's Law" and Values Education were among the items approved by the Levittown Board of Education at a special planning meeting Nov. 19.

Megan's Law, signed into law in late January 1996, states that a sex crime offender must register every change of address with the police department, which then must inform people that such a felon is moving into the neighborhood. Police also alert nearby businesses and schools that might have cause for concern.

The law is named after a New Jersey girl who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered by a neighbor from across the street, who, unbeknownst to residents, was a repeat sex offender. The law originated in New Jersey, and New York shortly followed with very similar legislation.

As approved, when the Nassau County Police Department notifies the Levittown schools that a paroled sex offender has moved into the community, the school district will notify the school in the attendance area in which the paroled sex offender lives.

In notifying the school it would direct school administrators to notify all employees in that school. Also, the other district administrators would be notified, but would not notify the employees in their buildings. Sirois added that certain other community groups (such as the PTA), and possibly other youth groups, would be notified, according to the nature of the crimes that the sex offender had committed.

"For example," Sirois said, "if the sex offender has a record of offenses dealing only with teenagers, then we would notify the elementary school personnel, and vice versa. That's basically in response to the law, which says that school districts would provide notices to appropriate groups of employees and other groups associated with the school, but will not provide a blanket notice."

The issue of what kind of notice to issue has become controversial elsewhere in Nassau. In late August, when warnings from the police revealed that a sex crime offender had become a resident of Jericho, the Jericho school administration notified its elementary staff and then sent a letter citing the general facts only, dated Sept. 9, to all district residents. Some parents in Jericho were distressed that the school district didn't divulge the remaining information, claiming that despite heightened awareness of school staff, safety was still compromised without full community knowledge.

In other Levittown school news, the board adopted language from the New York State School Boards Association that calls for the district to reinforce values of citizenship, honesty and integrity, as opposed to more personal values that relate to family preferences, lifestyles or religion.

"There are certain values that are common to all parts of our society," Levittown superintendent Sirois said. "It is one of the reasons why schools exist. (But) there are values that are more parochial; those values we are precluded from teaching...Because we are a public agency, we can only deal with those things that are universal."

District resident James Ward, a former president of the Levittown Board of Education, said the trustees deserved congratulations on taking what he called a first step toward re-establishing civic values that have been key to our society. But he questioned whether, by adopting the state school boards' language, the association or the school district would decide the values Levittown is to teach.

"I suggest our school board scrap the New York State School Boards' 'one size fits all' statement on Values Education," Ward wrote in a letter to the Tribune , "and in its place engage in a community dialogue on civic and moral values." In addition to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the Emancipation Proclamation, Ward said that the dialogue should start with the Ten Commandments, located in the Bible's Book of Exodus.

Other policy revisions approved by the Levittown trustees include modifications in the bidding requirements and student scheduling courseloads and student graduation requirements. Sirois said that the latter two bring the district into line with new mandates approved by the state Board of Regents. "But it's likely we may make further changes to those after all the (state) decisions are finally made," he added.

Brad Barthcontributed to this story.