Registered sex offender serving in Pueblo school’s PTO raises concern

The Pueblo City Schools’ Board of Education doesn’t have a policy that prohibits registered sex offenders from serving in parent-teacher organizations.

District spokesman Scott Jones told KRDO NewsChannel 13 the district does not run background checks on PTO members but said the district may consider taking up the issue after a parent at Bradford Elementary School complained to the school’s principal that Leonard Cordova, a registered sex offender, was serving in a PTO. Jones added that the district does run background checks on volunteers.

“I don’t know of another school district who requires all of those parents to undergo a background check. If, as in this case, you become aware of a situation, you become extra vigilant of it and deal with it at that time,” Jones said.

Leonard Cordova plead guilty to sexual assault on a child in 1997. He said he was wrongfully accused by his ex-girlfriend’s child.

He has two children at Bradford Elementary School and said he wanted to be part of the PTO to learn more about what’s going on at his children’s school. Leonard Cordova told KRDO NewsChannel 13 his sex offender status doesn’t preclude him from spending time with children but said he’s never been alone with kids at the school.

Leonard Cordova’s wife, Monique Cordova, said, “He was never one-on-one with kids. He was always with the staff.”

The district didn’t ask Cordova to step down from the PTO but said he has not been part of the meetings since last December, when a complaint about his sex offender status was made to the school’s principal.

“The school district, as well as our board of education, are constantly reviewing everything from policies to procedures, and this will be just another one of those situations where we look closely at what we do in terms of those types of parent support groups,” Jones said.

Leonard and Monique Cordova said they’ve been part of the PTO at two other District 60 schools before enrolling their children at Bradford and said it never posed a problem before.