Older MFISD pupils to get sex-predator warnings

Older students, however, are more likely to be victimized by somebody they know, officials said.

“It seems every month I get a notification from the Marble Falls or Granite Shoals police department that another sex offender has moved into the area,” Superintendent Ryder Warren said. “There are always articles in our educational journals that highlight the problems with sexual predators and online things such as chat rooms. It’s not just strangers that pose a problem for our students, especially at the secondary level.”

Officials said the school district for quite some time has offered “stranger-danger” programs to elementary school pupils to help the children protect themselves, but until now the district hasn’t offered a similar program at the secondary level.

That changes the first week of December, when Marble Falls Middle School and Marble Falls High School counselors  provide predator-awareness programs at both campuses. 

“I think we’ve done a good job in the past teaching those things to our elementary students about some of problems out there surrounding ‘stranger danger’ and other issues,” Warren said. “But for some reason I never carried it forward to our older students.”

The superintendent said no single incident prompted the decision to offer the program at the secondary level — but it was series of events that made him think the program was necessary.

Marble Falls High School counselor Susi Roberts said strangers probably don’t pose the most significant dangers for high school students, but people they already know.

“Our focus isn’t so much on strangers but those adults already in our students’ lives,” she said. “There could already be adults in our students’ lives that they come into contact (with) on a regular basis and sometimes the lines in those relationships can be blurred.”

During the summer, Warren asked the secondary-level counselors to develop programs about the potential dangers facing these students. 

“The secondary counselors took the bull by the horns and developed a good program that addresses these concerns and at an age-appropriate level,” he said.

Roberts said the counselors want to reinforce for high school students the boundaries that should be in place for teen-adult relationships.

“We’re going to discuss what a healthy relationship is,” she said. “And that can also be relationships between teenagers as well. The program will also go over what to look for in a possible dangerous relationship.”

The high school program will be conducted during the regular small group meetings. Roberts said two individual small groups would be combined so there are male and female mentors present. 

“But they’ll still be small enough and the students will be familiar with the teacher,” she said. 

The high school program will include a 12-minute video that covers awareness for teenagers. It won’t be an in-depth study of all the facets involved in sexual predators or other relationships that go bad, but a presentation that gives the students a basic overview, Roberts said.

“We don’t want it to be something where there will be a lot of open discussion because this can be a very sensitive subject — especially to a student who might have experienced this or been a victim,” she said. “After the program if a student has a question or concern, then they can come to (the counselors) for help.”

Warren said one of the main aims of the secondary program is to point students in the right direction if they need help.

“We don’t want any of our students to think they can’t come to us for help,” he said. “If they are being victimized by somebody they know, we want them to tell somebody. That’s one of the biggest messages we want them to take from this. There are people they can go to for help here at the schools.”

Parents have the opportunity to keep their children out of the program by completing a form found on the MFISD Web site www.marble.tx.schoolwebpages.com. 

Parents can also view the videos at their child’s campus counselor’s office.

“We’re just trying to give our kids a few more tools to protect themselves,” Roberts said. “It might be as simple as, ‘Hey, be careful.’”

Two years ago, the Marble Falls City Council passed an ordinance that prohibited convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of any location children gather. Other area cities enacted similar laws.

daniel@thepicayune.com