By Ryan Fournier
Christopher Dee Gaylord, a level-three registered sex offender, is enrolled at Peninsula College as of Winter Quarter.
“If you want to know about me in the present, about my past or my hopes and dreams for the future, just ask. I am open and honest,” Gaylord said.
On the scale of one to three, level threes are considered by Washington State Code most likely to re-offend.
Jack Huls, vice president of Student Services, sent notification of Gaylord’s presence to all primary student emails on file, and over Mass-mail on Feb. 16, in the seventh week of the Quarter.
Alerts for new level- three offenders are normally sent in the first week, the vice president explained.
“We just missed the flag on it,” he said. “I’ve addressed that, so that doesn’t happen again.”
Campus Safety Operations Manager Marty Martinez said the College had difficulty connecting with Gaylord for an introductory appointment with Huls while Gaylord transitioned from Jefferson to Clallam County. Gaylord’s status as transient compounded the difficulty, according to Martinez.
Huls said he always meets with offenders before sending out mass notifications.
All level-two and three sex offenders enrolled at PC are posted in the Campus Safety office window in the Pirate Union Building on the Port Angeles campus. The childcare center currently displays info on the two level-3s enrolled.
Huls said the Early Childhood Development Center is made aware of all enrolled sex offenders identified by the school, regardless of their level.
PC’s Port Townsend campus posts sex-offender notifications in it’s student lounge on the second floor.
The Forks campus posts only those who attend class there.
Michael Douglas Hendricksen Jr., also a level-three sex offender, is a returning PC student this quarter. Attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
PC is an “open-enrollment” institution, meaning anyone can be a student, regardless of criminal record.
“There’s people that have had troubled pasts, and have turned things around,” Huls said.