By COLLEEN SMIDT

To me, these are the individuals that prey upon innocent and trusting children to satisfy their particular brand of sick perversions.

These monsters are the worst kind of evil. They use their positions in their neighborhoods and their communities to be close to or gain individual access to their prey.

They work hard to gain the trust of parents and officials and to make use of any opportunities available to them.

It is devastating as a parent to hear that one of these accused monsters has possibly infiltrated the school that your child attends.

Recently many parents in Bremerton, including myself, experienced the gut-wrenching news that the possibility of such an incident had occurred.

I know directly the improvements that they have made over the years when it comes to ensuring that background checks are conducted, renewed and accounted for.

I recently submitted the paperwork for my own background check renewal so that I could continue to be a chaperone on class field trips this year.

Background checks, however, are only a start and one tool that are used to control the access of non-district personnel to schools and students.

When I started volunteering in the district in 2006, I spent one day a week in the classroom with my child’s kindergarten class for an entire year.

I had free access in and around the school and was not once asked to submit paperwork for a background check. I was not always asked to check in with the office on my volunteer days nor was I asked to wear a badge that identified me as a visitor.

This relaxed atmosphere quickly began to change when I and several others began to speak up about what was happening.

It then came to the attention of several new school board members and a new superintendent.

Almost immediately a much more regimented system was implemented and monitored. District staff receives additional training.

Volunteers are now required to sign in and out, wear badges that identify them and they are monitored closely.

Vigilance by everyone associated in and around schools, along with the proper training for staff, is just as important when it comes to keeping access controlled and identifying behaviors that raise red flags around children.

Talk with your children. Ask them often about the relationships that they have with adults outside of your home and how they feel about those relationships.

Be vigilant for answers that don’t seem quite right to you.

Colleen Smidt is a longtime resident of Bremerton and writes weekly about community and government issues that matter to area residents in the Bremerton Patriot and Central Kitsap Reporter.