Parents React To Sex Offender In Peoria School
By: Alexandra Sutter WMBD/WYZZ
Updated: October 1, 2012
PEORIA -- Some Peoria parents are angry with the way District 150 handled a registered sex offender interacting with students inside Irving Primary School on Friday morning.
33-year-old Ricky Fletcher is in the Peoria County Jail on a $25,000 bond. He's charged with two counts of violating Illinois' Sex Offender Registration Act.
District 150 said Irving Primary School's principal saw Ricky Fletcher talking with students in the school's cafeteria and called the police. It's not the first time Fletcher was seen inside the school.
District 150 spokesman Chris Coplan said although he is a parent, he's supposed to be following the rules that come with being a sex offender.
He said, "Any sex offender that has a child within the district must notify the superintendent and request permission to be on campus at an arranged time."
The incident is raising questions about safety and security. WMBD 31 News asked, how easy is it for an individual to get inside Irving School?
Coplan said, "At times at drop off times in the morning schools starting and we often have parents bring their children to school, bring them into the office with a note or pick up instructions, some of them will visit the cafeteria depending on what that principal has set for that buildings procedures."
He said parents aren't required to check in during drop off and pick up times and Irving's main entrance remains unlocked throughout the day.
Parents tell us they understand the building can't be 100 percent secure, but they're disappointed in the communication from the district.
Mother Kanisha Clemens said, "I didn't appreciate that I had to hear about my son, that a pervert or a sex offender being at the school from the internet or the newspaper and I called the principal and I asked her why she didn't send anything with the child."
She said District 150 needs to make Irving's entrance more secure. "They need to be buzzed in. Every parent needs to be buzzed in."
Another mother is upset she had to find out from a friend. "I'm pretty upset because they didn't contact us. They didn't call us and for the kids, they let the kids walk back and forth to the buildings and stuff and I feel like that wasn't right."
Coplan said the district believes Irving School is safe for its students.
He said the district doesn't plan to make any changes to Irving School. It is set to close in December.
