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Parents Worried About Adult Classes at School

Posted on: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 03:01 CDT

By Zlati Meyer, Detroit Free Press

Sep. 28--To Rebecca Forton, the lesson is clear: Kids, stay away from strangers. What puzzles the 42-year-old mother is why Livonia Public Schools, in her opinion, did exactly the opposite by hosting English as a second language classes and the countywide Regional Educational Media Center in Johnson Elementary School, which her three children attend.

She was one of 11 parents who raised concerns at a recent school board meeting. A handful of them supported the district's decision to move the adults into the school and the safety precautions taken.

Last month, parents at Washington Elementary School successfully argued with Livonia school officials to relocate the ESL classes that had been assigned to the building during school hours.

School officials said the adults taking classes at Johnson use a separate entrance, are in another wing of the building, and are separated by a gate from the general student body. That gate is an extendable, 3-foot high plastic fixture.

Teachers, paraprofessionals and scout leaders from across Wayne County have access to REMC.

"Any pedophile in Wayne County can say he's from a school," Forton said. The only thing protecting her child from him is a piece of yellow plastic, she added.

District spokesman Jay Young noted that the gate is not stationary so the janitor can pass back and forth. He also praised the school's secretaries for monitoring the surveillance cameras and buzzing people in.

REMC and the adult-ed classes were bumped from the Dickinson Center this year.

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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