SLINGER, Wis. — Police swept through Slinger High School after a contracted custodian was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography. The 27-year-old man had recently been hired to work at the school.
Brandan Zembrowski was arrested Thursday morning while working at the high school, and was charged with six counts of child porn possession in Ozaukee County court on Friday.
Slinger School District Superintendent Jim Curler said the district takes multiple precautions when hiring staff.
"We take the safety and security of our students incredibly seriously," he said. "It's our number one priority."
The superintendent explained that the district background checks employees three different ways — using two independent services and conducting daily checks on CCAP, the state's court system database.
Watch: Slinger school district defends hiring practices after custodian arrested on child porn charges
"In this situation, even with that individual, it would not have popped up because he has no criminal record," Curler said.
When asked about concerns from grandparents who suggested the district should have kept local district employees for custodial work, Curler defended their hiring practices. He also said the school has never experienced a problem like this during his time there.
"We've used Task Services for 12 years, I believe, and my guess is that 90% of the Task employees that work in the Slinger School District are Washington County residents," he said. "This individual was a Washington County resident," Curler said.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office confirmed there was nothing more the school could have done to prevent the situation.
"As soon as we learned that he was in the school we acted quickly to ensure that those children were safe," Detective Tim Kemps said.
Kemps works with other local, state and federal agencies to identify potential criminals using updated technology who all emphasize the importance of vigilance.
"They are out there in our community," he said. "So, you need to take precautions to make sure that the children are safe."
According to Kemps, Zembrowski uploaded illegal images sourced from a foreign country online. Kemps confirmed that no Washington County children were harmed in this case.
Still, he urged parents to be proactive.
"Put restrictions on the phone," he said. "Know what they're doing because there are evil people out there."
The school took additional safety measures following the arrest, including having the Slinger Police Department sweep all bathrooms and locker rooms to ensure no cameras had been installed.
Zembrowski is due back in Ozaukee County court on July 7th at 10 a.m. for a status hearing. According to the criminal complaint he uploaded the illegal digital content in Grafton, WI at a different residence, which is why he's charged in that county.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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