ICCSD board approves placing student sex offender in district

The Iowa City School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a location in the Iowa City Community School District to educate a sex offender seeking to attend school.

The School Board approved a recommendation from district administrators of an undisclosed location to educate the student during a public 5-0 vote that took place after a closed placement hearing.

Board members Patti Fields and Jeff McGinness did not attend.

This individual, who is required by law to register as a sex offender in the state of Iowa, will be placed in the Iowa City Community School District during this school year.

Superintendent Stephen Murley has said the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act requires district officials to withhold information about the situation such as the individual's name, where he or she will attend school and the nature of the crime he or she committed.

He also has said Iowa law requires the district to offer education to all school-age children living within the district's borders.

After the closed hearing Tuesday, Murley said administrators based their recommendation on the needs of the student being placed as well as the needs of other students and staff.

Murley said the district plans to meet the students' needs by providing him or her an education as well as by providing therapeutic services.

"We sought a placement that would allow us to balance both those academic needs and those socioemotional needs," Murley said.

He said the district has worked closely with the court system, the student and the student's guardian to put a plan in place for guaranteeing the safety of staff working with the student and other students in the district.

Murley said this plan includes monitoring before the student arrives on campus, during the school day and after the school day. He said more than one adult will frequently be involved in monitoring the student.

School Board president Chris Lynch said of the closed placement hearing that he views administrators' recommendation for placing the student as "robust." He said the School Board sought to follow Iowa law, meet the needs of the student and to meet the needs of other students.

"I think that we've done that with Steve's recommendation," Lynch said.

Reach Holly Hines at hhines2@press-citizen.com or at 887-5414.