How safe are children at school?

The answer might surprise parents.

A KCTV5 News Investigation started with a look into the laws regarding juvenile sex offenders, and it didn't take long to find a case in the Kansas City metropolitan area that will leave parents wondering who is sitting next to their children?

A 12-year-old girl, a sixth-grader at Fire Prairie Middle School in the Fort Osage School District, was forced to see a 13-year-old boy who sexually assaulted her.

The boy molested the girl while she was at a friend's house.

She kept it secret for months.

"He committed rape and sodomy and forced oral sex and forced her to perform it on him," said Renee, the girl's mother.

In June, her daughter broke down and revealed what had happened to her.

She and her daughter went to police and filed a report. Prosecutors filed charges, and the boy later pleaded guilty to two counts of molestation.

But the girl's ordeal didn't end there.

She was forced to see her attacker everyday at school.

The 13-year-old boy attends the Lewis and Clark school on the Fort Osage campus. Because that school has no lunch room, the kids walk over to Fire Prairie Middle and eat there.

"They're in the same lunchroom," Renee said. "She does tell me, 'Today he gave me such an evil look.'"

KCTV5 News wanted to know how it could be possible, that a convicted juvenile sex offender is in the same school, the same lunchroom, at the same time as his victim.

"The people at the school didn't know," Renee said.

Under Missouri law, juveniles do not have to register as sex offenders unless convicted as an adult, so KCTV5 News uncovered the Missouri state statute dealing with juvenile sex offenders.

Section 167.115 clearly states that the courts or police must notify the school district that an offender is in their building.

"The family court, the Jackson County family court would notify us, and are mandated to do so by law of any offender or offense that takes place regarding a safe schools violation," said Dr. Anissa Gastin, director of student affairs for the Fort Osage School District.

When KCTV5 News contacted Jackson County Family Court about the Fort Osage case, director of legal services Mary Marquez declined an on-camera interview but confirmed that no notice was ever sent to the Fort Osage School District. "It was our responsibility ... it was an error on our part ... an oversight."

Only after KCTV5 News started digging for answers in late March did family court send a letter to the Fort Osage district.

"We have recently received notification from Jackson County Family Court about a safe schools violation," Gastin said.

Missouri Rep. Curt Dougherty reacted to the situation.

"There is no excuse for something like this. There's got to be a better plan," Dougherty said.

Dougherty's district includes Fort Osage schools. Because of what KCTV5 News uncovered, he is demanding a state audit of Missouri's juvenile sex offender notification policy.

"If one particular person was to shirk their duties and not perform their duties, if you or I did that in the public sector, we'd be fired," Dougherty said.

KCTV5 News dug deeper, looking into the policy on the Kansas side. The investigation led KCTV5 News to Topeka and the Kansas Bureau of Investigations.

"For a juvenile, a judge has the discretion to decide whether the juvenile has to register or not register," said Erik Wood, of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

If the judge orders the juvenile to register as a sex offender, their name will appear on the KBI Web site, which was first created in 1997. There are currently 373 juveniles registered.

If a juvenile is not required to register, then there is no way for parents to find out about that person's conviction, according to Wood.

Renee said, "This puts other children in danger. Juvenile offenders have got to be somewhere away from the main population."

KCTV5 News kept checking, and since KCTV5 News began digging for answers, Renee said that her daughter no longer has to see her attacker in the lunchroom because school officials are no longer bringing him over.