Leadership decisions at a church-run school in Haslet are under intense scrutiny after parents learned that a registered sex offender had been working on campus. State records show that in 2016, Caleb Crawford was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison for indecency with a child by sexual contact. He is required by law to verify his sex offender status each year. Several parents at Heritage Daycare and Preschool and Heritage Christian Academy who spoke to NBC 5 say they were unaware of his background until this week. “I wish someone would have told me,” Ryan Gunderson said. Gunderson’s three children are enrolled at the school. Caleb Crawford’s father, Pastor Eric Crawford, acknowledged in a statement that he hired his son to lead music at Heritage Baptist Church and work as an independent contractor at Heritage Christian Academy. “My intent was to allow his gifts to serve the ministry while ensuring that he held no role of responsibility or authority over minors entrusted to our care,” the statement said. Parents said they quickly voiced concerns and opposition once they learned of his role. In the same statement, Pastor Crawford confirmed his son’s employment was terminated this week after it “caused concern within our parent community and has created unnecessary distraction within our ministry.” Gunderson said he learned about Caleb’s criminal record through conversations with other parents about his daughter’s recent behavioral changes. He searched Caleb’s name on the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. “At that point, I went to the school. It was on Monday on President’s Day, and nobody was at the School besides the Director of Child Care. I printed out his rap sheet, and I showed it to her. And I had a picture of him, and I said, why does he work here?” Gunderson said. “She was like, ‘well he’s an independent contractor.’ I don’t care if he’s independent contractor. He’s here with my kids every single day, and he’s in contact with them and a lot of the kids.” Gunderson said he contacted the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office and distributed flyers to alert other parents. After parent Marlene Baily learned the news, she requested a meeting with school leadership and ultimately decided to withdraw her children. “Our children’s safety should come before your church and a distraction to your church,” she said. “That is why parents are so outraged is because they are minimizing his role within the school as that of a contractor when we all have seen him help take our children out of our vehicles in morning drop off. We’ve also showed our children pictures of the gentleman, and they can attest that he has been walking around the hallways with them, he’s been in the classrooms, they know him by name.” “Our whole world has just changed in one split second, but we just cannot continue to send them there,” Baily said. Meanwhile, an online petition calling for the pastor’s resignation is gaining traction. Katie Thompson, a former church member who started the petition, is urging leadership change. “I ask you to resign and to let another leader come in and create a safe place for all of the children and, quite frankly, the adults as well,” Thompson said. It remains unclear whether there is an active criminal investigation. Efforts to reach Pastor Crawford for additional comment were unsuccessful. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less