California Supreme Court
Feb. 25, 2017
State high court petition tests ban of sex offender from daughter's school
A petition to the state Supreme Court challenges Ventura Unified School District's refusal to allow a registered sex offender into his daughter's elementary school.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
School districts violate constitutional due process rights when they categorically refuse to allow registered sex offenders with children enrolled as students from entering school grounds, a new state Supreme Court petition claims.
A "John Doe" filed a writ of mandate directly to the high court this month against Ventura Unified School District after district administrators rejected his requests in 2014 and last year to accompany his daughter to elementary school.
Doe has been required to register as a sex offender since 1990. He was convicted as an 18-year-old of committing a lewd act with a minor in violation of state Penal Code Section 288(a), according to his petition.
Doe and his legal team — Dennis P. Riordan of Riordan & Horgan in San Francisco and Sacramento-based civil rights lawyer Janice M. Bellucci — claim that Ventura Unified and other school districts that reject sex registrants are violating "the fundamental right of association between parents and children."
Doe's attorneys further argued that school districts must determine on a case-by-case basis whether a sex registrant can enter school and attend in his or her child's activities rather than impose a blanket ban.
"What you're looking for is a system that would require some kind of individualized determination to impose these draconian consequences," Riordan said in an interview.
Bellucci said that in weighing whether to allow school access for a parent convicted of a sex offense, a school district could consider the age of the offender at the time he or she committed the offense, the severity of the offense, whether the offender has multiple convictions, and the amount of time that has passed since an offense.
Ventura Unified invoked California Penal Code Section 626.81 as justification for barring Doe from his daughter's school. The state law makes it a misdemeanor for a sex offender to enter school property unless the offender has "lawful business" and "written permission" from the chief school administrator.
"As applied to Petitioner, Section 626.81 serves to erect an absolute barrier — imposed without any reasoned justification by the state or the District Respondents — to Petitioner's ability to physically participate in his child's educational experiences as they occur on school grounds," Doe's petition reads.
Doe has been a law-abiding citizen since his 1990 conviction. His real name and details of his criminal history were submitted under seal to the state high court. Doe v. State of California, S240071.
The petition names the state, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Ventura Unified School District and district superintendent Michael Babb as respondents. Deputy Attorney General Anthony Paul O'Brien represents the state.
Babb did not respond to a request for comment. The high court has not set a date on when it will consider Doe's petition.
Bellucci is involved in two other lawsuits challenging school districts and their policies that ban sex offenders with kids enrolled as students from entering schools.
One lawsuit filed on behalf of an unnamed sex registrant against Grossmont Union High School District is on the verge of settling after the district revised its policy on allowing sex registrants access to school grounds. Doe v. Grossmont Union High School District et al., 37-2016-00040632-CU-PT-CTL (San Diego Super. Ct., filed Nov. 18, 2016).
Bellucci is also involved in a pending lawsuit filed against Fontana Unified School District for a policy banning all sex offenders from school grounds. Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws v. Fontana Unified School District et al., CIVDS1616906 (San Bernardino Super. Ct., filed Oct. 11, 2016).
Kevin Lee
kevin_lee@dailyjournal.com
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