Bentonville's Adventure Club Focusing On Safety

BENTONVILLE -- The School District has implemented several procedural changes to its Adventure Club program since a former employee was arrested in connection with raping three students.

There are two staff members on hand each morning to open each Adventure Club site, according to a memo written this month to the School Board by Deb Kee, child enrichment services director, and Tanya Sharp, executive director of student services.

It was not uncommon for one Adventure Club employee to be the only assigned employee on site between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. last school year, according to a review conducted by Mitchell Williams, the School District's law firm.

The memo also states two staff members will be involved when a child needs restroom assistance. If two staff members are not available, several children will be taken at the same time.

Adventure Club is a child-care program run by the district's Childcare Enrichment Services department. It operates before and after school for students in kindergarten through sixth grade at the district's elementary and middle schools.

Ali Matar Jr., 21, worked as an Adventure Club leader from October to May. Matar is accused of sexually abusing three students while working at R.E. Baker Elementary School. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

The Matar case prompted the district to request Mitchell Williams review the existence and application of district policies and practices for possible breakdowns or gaps. The review found no reason to criticize the district, though it offered several ways the district could enhance the safety of Adventure Club students.

The district has paid $3,240 for the report that was released Sept. 2. That price does not include work the firm did on the report in August, according to Sterling Ming, director of finance. The final cost has not been made available yet.

Other ways the district has updated safety procedures include providing more training for staff members. The Children's Advocacy Center administered a training session for 43 Adventure Club staff members last week titled "Recognizing Child Abuse and Predators."

Natalie Tibbs, the center's assistant director, led the 90-minute session. She began by discussing the role the center plays in child-abuse investigations.

"We talked about child maltreatment and some general statistics of victims, and about the numbers we're seeing in Benton County," Tibbs said. "We talked about why children can be ideal victims for abuse, what are some long-term effects of abuse, what are some risk factors and why offenders target certain children as victims."

She also reviewed with employees what kind of information is needed to make a child-abuse report, whom to make the report to and what happens to those reports once they are made.

The district is capping enrollment at Adventure Club sites until additional staff can be hired to prevent supervisors from consistently being in groups when group teachers are absent. This allows for better supervision at the sites, Kee said.

Adventure Club enrollment was 705 on Monday with 139 children on a waiting list, Kee said. The program had 828 children enrolled on Sept. 1, 2013, and 866 enrolled on Oct. 1.

"We typically don't have a waiting list, but we are fully staffed for the children enrolled and we do have positions available to get those families off the waiting list," Kee said.

Adventure Club has also begun posting biographies of each of its staff members at its sites so parents can get more information about them if they wish.

Adventure Club operates until 6 p.m. each day. As numbers dwindle each afternoon, groups are combined so a staff member is never alone with one child. The only time a child may be alone with an adult is if the child is ill or is behaving in such a way the child must be removed from the group.

A section on child safety will be added to the Adventure Club parent handbook. Student Services will work with the Children's Advocacy Center to schedule a parent forum to gain information on how to talk with children about abuse and neglect, according to Kee's memo.

In addition, the "Speak Up, Be Safe" program will be administered on a pilot basis at Thomas Jefferson Elementary and Ruth Barker Middle School. The program addresses subjects such as abuse and bullying and other difficult situations children may encounter, Tibbs said.

Tibbs said from what she knew, there's nothing the district could have done differently to prevent the abuse authorities have alleged, but added "We've definitely made some great strides in protecting the kids further."

Wendi Cheatham, School Board president, addressed the Adventure Club issue during last week's board meeting.

"This is something we all took very seriously in looking at it and making sure that whatever policies were in place that we as a board wanted to make sure we could communicate with pure confidence that we're doing the right thing with ... the Adventure Club program," Cheatham said.

Cheatham said the program has the board's full support, adding the board wouldn't let financial concerns get in the way of needed improvements.

"I don't want people to think that we're not supporting Adventure Club financially," she said. "I don't think we've ever tried to communicate that to anyone, even through our budget discussions or anything like that. I wanted to communicate to you, if there's something that we need to know, because we need to make an adjustment, we have sufficient funds. I don't think anyone should think we're so concerned about our budget that we're not going to do the right thing where we need to."