MERIDIAN - Cole Smith can control how his son gets to the bus and what time. But what he can't control: "We know there (are) registered sex offenders in our subdivision."

So, when it comes to where his son Morgan's school bus stop is he says he trusts school officials.

"We feel like they have the best interest of the kids at heart," Smith said.

Idaho prohibits sex offenders from living within 500 feet of a school building. But there is no law on the books dealing with how close a school bus stop can be to a sex offenders residence.

Meridian District officials say that's true. But creating a perfectly safe bus stop system without any sex offenders nearby isn't possible.

"There are 223 sex offenders that live in the Meridian School District," said Eric Exline, spokesman.

That's where Meridian's mapping system comes into play.

"You can see all the streets, all the names, and all the locations of the sex offenders who are on the registry," Exline said.

Exline says they don't want bus stops that cause kids to come to a place where a sex offender currently lives. He says it takes weeks for their transportation department to come up with a bus route and to make sure a stop isn't adjacent or in front of a sex offender's home. If it is they may have to move it at any time.

However, even Meridian's plan isn't fool-proof.

When asked what parents need to know when it comes to this situation, Exline responded by saying: "If you have a concern about this you should be keeping track of how this issue is affecting your neighborhood and you can do that through the Ada County website. Then if you find that you have this issue you need to call our transportation department."

And getting involved as a parent may be the best defense.

"I think it's a collective effort to make sure those kiddos get to and home from the bus stops safely," Smith said.

The Boise and Nampa School District each use slightly different mapping systems than Meridian. But they all say they carefully monitor their bus stop locations around sex offenders.

School officials say parents are responsible for their child until that child gets on the school bus or walks through school doors.