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Schools

How to keep kids safe rivets community

A mason who worked with John Evander Couey at Homosassa Elementary said he would disappear from work for hours. The School Board chairwoman calls for record checks.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT and COLLINS CONNER
Published March 23, 2005

INVERNESS - Shocked that a sexual offender accused of killing Jessica Lunsford had worked at the child's school, School Board Chairwoman Pat Deutschman on Tuesday called for a district policy requiring criminal record checks on laborers at school construction sites.

"It's terribly disturbing and yet another example of how things went wrong at Homosassa," Deutschman said.

The man charged in the girl's slaying, John Evander Couey, was frequently around students during the five months he worked as a mason's helper at Homosassa, according to mason Giles Cannon.

The contractor on the project, R.E. Graham, said Monday that Couey had no contact with students. There is no evidence that Couey had any contact with Jessica during that time. Cannon said he cannot recall Couey speaking to any student or remarking on them.

However, Cannon said, Couey periodically disappeared from his work station.

"It sounds strange, but he disappeared," Cannon said. "On more than one occasion, I looked for him everywhere and all of a sudden he'd pop up. (He'd say) "I was here all the time."

On at least three occasions when Couey dropped from sight, Cannon said, he and another worker combed the work site hunting for him.

"We checked the whole job, couldn't find him, no clue. It wasn't that big of a job not to find somebody. He didn't have a car.

"One day I tried for three hours and never found him. Then he just popped up.

"It was very creepy."

When Deutschman learned Tuesday of Couey's conduct on the job site, she said, "It just doesn't stop, does it?"

"It's appalling, really appalling," she said.

Diane Toto, president of the Homosassa Civic Club said she has received numerous calls from her neighbors who were incensed to know that Couey was at the school and could gain access to areas where children were. "Now to find out that the guy disappeared a few times is chilling," she said.

Board member Ginger Bryant said she was shocked and that she would support any move to provide screening of future workers on school construction sites. "I hope that everyone is as upset as I am," she said of her fellow board members.

Deutschman said the district should require that workers on school jobs be licensed and qualified in light of the construction debacle that has rocked the school for the past year. In addition, school officials have voiced concern that some were undocumented workers.

"A number of people working on this job site were suspect," Deutschman said. "If they're going to be on a job site where there are children, there should be a much higher standard."

Deutschman said the board will have to consult with its attorney, Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick, to work out any details of a new policy. But, at a minimum, the policy should bar from school job sites workers with a violent history or those who are sexual offenders and predators.

She noted that several years ago the district debated whether chaperones on student field trips should be screened and eventually the district decided on screenings to assure that children were safe on such trips.

"We had to raise the bar on the level of security we've providing for our kids. It's an ongoing issue in this day and time," she said. "This is reality. We're not in an isolated little community anymore."

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 and behrendt@sptimes Collins Conner can be reached at 1 800 333-7505, ext. 6243 or conner@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 23, 2005, 00:55:18]