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AMERICAN FORK — Alpine School District was caught off-guard when they learned one of their bus stops was next to two registered sex offenders.
The district said it did not know it had put a school bus stop next to two homes where sex offenders live. However, tips from several residents in the area alerted them to a problematic bus stop at 305 S. 50 West in Orem.
The district, however, is making a change by Tuesday for students at Orem's Suncrest Elementary.
District spokesman John Patten said staffers will be asking themselves some questions for the future.
It is very time consuming, but we feel like it's a good use of resources.
–John Patten
"Is this something that slipped through the cracks? Did these people move in right after we did the initial check and there wasn't a follow-up check?" Patten said. "We're not really sure, but we're so grateful that we found out so that we can make some changes."
The district will manually check the area's list of 280 registered sex offenders against more than 1,000 bus stops.
"We get the list like anybody can, and then we go through the database name by name, address by address, and enter it into our system," Patten said. "It is very time consuming, but we feel like it's a good use of resources."
Suncrest's principal, Tom Freeman, said he will stand at the problematic bus stop and keep an eye on the children. The school will notify parents of the change sometime next week.
