Libby schools take steps to protect students

This is the third part in an ongoing series about sexual abuse in Lincoln County.

In the wake of revelations about the presence of sex offenders in and around Libby, school district superintendent Craig Barringer is taking extra steps to protect the students in his charge.

“We have these kids seven hours a day, 180 days a year,” Barringer said. “We need to be providing a safe place for them. We need to be giving them hope.”

Barringer said he is confident the district is doing everything that can be done to ensure sexual predators aren’t allowed in the schools. All school faculty, staff and volunteers are fingerprinted and put through rigorous background checks. Administrators routinely use the Montana Sex and Violent Offender Registry to check for the presence of offenders in and around the schools, and he said, school officials listen to parents and community concerns and act accordingly.

Earlier this year, a Level III sex offender was released from prison and relocated to an address on McKay Street in Libby. Almost immediately, Barringer said, the phone started ringing. The offender’s residence sat on a corner near a school bus stop. Barringer contacted the school district’s bus service provider, Harlow’s, and arranged to have the stop relocated. It created a minor inconvenience for some students and parents, but provided increased safety and peace of mind.

“It’s a shame that we had to adjust our stuff around him,” Barringer said. “But this is the kind of thing we have to do to make sure the kids are safe.”

In addition to physical measures, such as background checks, Barringer said recent discussions about the presence of sexual predators in and around the community has prompted him to consider other measures. While working in Conrad, his last posting, Barringer said the district sponsored a parent-community seminar designed to help increase awareness of predators and the means they employ to entice children.

The seminar was conducted by an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Helena office, who has made a career of tracking, catching and prosecuting child sex offenders. He showed parents how predators work in Internet chatrooms, slowly building trusting relationships, which they then leverage to commit their offenses. Barringer said he would like to arrange a similar seminar in the Libby area.

Elizabeth Warren, national prevention program manager of the Darkness to Light Foundation, a national non-profit dedicated to child sex abuse prevention, said awareness of the signs of child sex abuse is the key to preventing abuse. Aware adults, including educators she said, can recognize these so-called grooming behaviors and take steps to stop abuse before it starts.

“Child sex abuse is one of the most difficult crimes to prove, as it often involves the word of a child against an adult,” she said. “Law enforcement personnel with specialized training are better equipped to serve as advocates for these children. At Darkness to Light, we believe the best way to protect children is for all adults to be aware and educated. It is a community responsibility to prevent and intervene to keep children safe from those that wish to harm them.”

Barringer said one area of concern is the presence of contractors on school property, whose employees are required to undergo similar background checks to school staff, but are not verified by the school district. To overcome that concern, Barringer said he doesn’t allow contractors to come into the schools during regular school hours. He said this policy not only helps maintain the safety of the students, but also helps to avoid disruptions in the schools’ learning environments. He said there are only two contractors who regularly send employees to school property, Harlow’s and Mahugh Fire & Safety.

Harlow’s is the school district’s transportation provider. The company’s drivers have constant exposure to school students. 

Jeremy Hageness, the manager of Harlow’s Libby operation, said his company goes above and beyond the background check requirements of the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

“We take it a step further than even the state,” he said. “If there are violent offenses against even adults, not just children, we won’t hire the candidate.”

In addition to background checks, Hageness said, the school buses are equipped with cameras. The cameras, he said, serve to protect both the kids and the drivers. 

Hageness said all Harlow’s drivers are trained to be aware at all times and monitor the children on and around their buses. The drivers not only watch the children, he said, they also keep tabs on any adults or other children hanging around the bus stops who have no reason to be there. Drivers are supposed to report any unusual activity around their vehicles or stops to management or the schools.

In addition to reporting any unusual incidents, Hageness said his employees are required to report any allegations made against them or investigations about them to the company. Background checks don’t reveal the presence of allegations or pending investigations, only convictions.

“That’s our business,” he said. “We’re the schools transportation provider and the safety of the children is our number one priority.”

Mahugh Fire & Safety is a Kalispell-based company that provides fire extinguisher service to the school district. Owner Gary Mahugh, through his office staff, declined to comment on the measures his company takes to screen employees. “That isn’t a topic he cares to discuss,” the employee said.