Goddard Public Schools says a person listed on the Kansas sex offender registry was allowed to volunteer on a recent field trip at Clark Davidson Elementary School, and a parent of two students is now pushing state and district leaders to act.

Amanda White, who has two Clark Davidson Elementary students, said she learned about the volunteer after the trip and first contacted principal Allison Ebert. White said Ebert told her there should be systems in place that flag registered offenders when they sign up to volunteer. The issue is now headed into the public arena: White said she will bring her concerns to the south central Kansas legislative public forum at the Advanced Learning Library on Thursday night, where lawmakers and Goddard superintendent Justin Henry are expected to be present.

White said she agreed to meet with district representatives on June 2, but she wants the discussion to go beyond one school outing. Earlier this year, efforts to pass legislation that would limit certain sex offenders from being on school property and taking part in school functions failed. White said she wants to restart those talks, arguing that the gap is bigger than one volunteer at one school.

“Obviously, that measure failed,” she said. “I think we lose focus when we try to focus on an individual person who did not break any laws (volunteering at the school). I think the point is that there aren’t any laws and there isn’t any protection at a district level, either, that protects our children.”

Goddard Public Schools said in a statement Wednesday that it had been made aware that an individual listed on the Kansas sex offender registry participated as a parent volunteer during a recent field trip at Clark Davidson Elementary School. The district said the information was not known to staff before or during the event and that no incidents were reported during the trip itself.

That leaves the district facing two questions at once: how the volunteer was cleared in the first place, and what changes will follow now that the problem has come to light. Goddard said it will review its current volunteer procedures and investigate additional safety measures and safeguards related to volunteer participation, while also urging community members with safety concerns to keep reaching out.

“We take the safety and well-being of every student in our care with the utmost seriousness,” the district said. “Community members who raise safety concerns play an important role in helping provide a safe learning environment for all students, and we encourage anyone with information relevant to student safety to continue reaching out. The safety of our students remains our highest priority, and we are committed to continually reviewing and strengthening our practices to support a safe learning environment.”

White said that is the outcome she is after. “At the end of the day my goal is to make change,” she said. “And while I’m not happy it took this long to make change, we’re making change.”