Amid growing controversy over the proposed release on parole of more than 150 youth offenders, a majority of them serving time for violent crimes, a special legislative committee on Tuesday scheduled a public hearing to review ongoing reforms at the scandal-racked Texas Youth Commission.
The Capitol hearing is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 29, committee officials said.
Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, a committee co-chairman, said the panel will hear from Youth Commission officials and members of the public on issues at the agency, which is in charge of incarcerating and rehabilitating teenage offenders in Texas.
Many questions I might pose to the agency and the committee should have already been answered in a FAQ document created from TYC's much-ballyhooed State of the Agency tour. Every time I ask about the FAQ, I'm told it will be released soon - yesterday I was told it would be released "today" - but so far, nada. TYC should release that document immediately so the information can inform testimony at next week's public hearing. Here are a few of my own unanswered questions, offhand:
- Where is the rehabilitation plan?
- Where is the conservator's report?
- Where is the State of the Agency FAQ?
- Where is the agency's use of force policy?
- Does TYC still plan to privatize incarcerating 10-13 year olds?
- If not, how will stated reduction goals for inmate populations be achieved?
- If inmate populations don't go down as much as anticipated, how will the agency address understaffing?
- Why have so many senior staff positions been filled with TDCJ employees instead of juvenile justice experts?
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58 comments:
Scott, I hope you get some answers today. This committee needs to look at TYC very closely, especially when it reviews some of the great people we have lost due to someone's own agenda that has nothing to do with the welfare of the youth of Texas that are served, or the welfare of the staff.
My questions are a lot like yours, Scott.
What's the treatment program?
What's the use-of-force protocol?
What's the plan to down-size the youth population?
What sort of community treatment programs are available for the misdemeanants who supposedly will not be locked up anymore?
What happens to the 19-21 population still being held by TYC?
not to mention when do facilities get staffed if they have to wait for 300 hours of training that doesn't exist yet? What consequences are there for staff who use old protocols because the new ones aren't in place? What happens when a 19 year old illegally held gets hurt? Since when did TDCJ Parole get the option of saying "no" when told to supervise (and can they do this with TDCJ prisoners)? Did TDCJ appointees have to get drug tests?
who's on first?
BTW, will the hearing be live on the net like past hearings?
Why didn't the legislature anticipate the problem with 19 year old determinate sentenced offenders when they made SB103 effective immediately?
Were they not aware of the requirements of the Human Resources Code?
Scott, another question that has not been asked nor even looked at deals with what the Legislators told all taxpayers and concerned citizens in Texas, and this would be "TYC in Austin is too top heavy".
Has then been addressed? Yes it has TYC has created more positions over the past 4 months that were never present in the past.
Why or how could this happen if they were instructed they had too many staff in Austin and not enough in the field?
Where is the funding coming from? Could it be the 500 new JCO's positions they know they cannot fill so they are utilizing some of these to bring on cronies from another agency?
I am sure they will have a good answer but regardless, TYC in Austin was not suppose to grow it was suppose to shrink.
Ask about the vulnerability tool they will be using to access the remainder of the TYC facilities.
They have contracted out with Texas A&M to come up with a spreadsheet to utilize when they go to every facility and no one knows what questions or what data they are looking for. Could it be based on location, medical treatment, access to Universities/Colleges, the physical structure of the building (cost and repair, age), cost to rebuild after a hurricane, etc, etc?
It would be nice to know what the criteria is and when they plan to move on this for future Institution closings.
Per a phone call to the Senate subcommittee office a few minutes ago (Jacob said) it should be online; start time of 10 AM. I also suggested that it noted on the schedule for the senate website. (I noted the many questions on Grits that staff might be afraid to ask in fear of unofficial retaliation; he said they monitored the site)
Another issue with this so called 1-12 ration is that it is flawed. If you called any facility and asked what their ratio is today they could tell you x amount of staff and y amount of youth. By this scenario most facilities will reach their 1-12 ratio.
But, what you wont find is that ratio does not take into account the staff pulled to make medical trips, escort to the counselor, and many other trips to places on campus and off. When this occurs the ratio's drop significantly. This is part of the 1-12 most people looking from the outside do not see, all they see is the front end staffing and youth population, not what occurs during a shift.
Honestly, the best thing that can come from this hearing is the resignations of Ed Owens and Dimitria Pope. They have absolutely no idea what they are doing. If the most concrete decision that has evolved is using CS spray on recalcitrant youth instead of verbal intervention, then they have accomplished little. A staggering 300 hours pre-service training might look good but the reality is that you have to pay people a decent wage and benefits. The legislature's pasing the buck as usual with it's typical band-aid solutions.
Let's be honest, the only reason Owens and Pope are there is because it makes Perry look like he's being inclusive. If you want a minority in those positions, fine. But find qualified ones. There are plenty of minorities qualified for these positions. Go find and recruit them for goodness sakes.
I'd like to know how the ligislature will hold the new TYC Management accountable for "improving TYC operations". How is improvement defined, how will it be measured, how will we know when the job is done? It just won't be enough to say how difficult the job is, how long it might take or how hard everyone is trying.
The public needs clear goals established and accountability that management cannot transfer back to the legislature or down to the field staff.
Clueless losers in charge of education are a problem.
They are married to dogma. It doesn't fit in TYC.
I must be mellowing in my old age, but 3:41's comment struck a chord; "...that management cannot transfer back to the legislature..." As much as I blame the legislature, current management doesn't have that option or out. They had time to review SB 103 before they got stuck with it, so there is no excuse of being blindsided as most staff have been. Apparently they decided they wanted the power and position so much they failed to take into consideration the outcomes of the legislators' actions; I believe that is called a thinking error. That is the no "out" side of the situation; the no option is that, good, bad or indifferent, they have the agency... if the Dept of Justice meetings did their job, TDCJr should be on notice that they better get it together quickly or Owens and Pope's contribution to correctional history will be Federal suits, inteventions and control with an unbelievable price tag. Maybe D'Pope will be assisted into early retirement like so many TYC people and Owens can just be put out to pasture.
The chemical dependency treatment people met this week to re-develop their program. Supposedly there was a time table for this to be done by. Let's hope that they developed a program that reflemcts what has and does work with this population and didn't cut and paste together something from this-n-that or some other program.
WOW...these questions are awesome! After reading them, I'm having trouble coming up with one that hasn't already been asked. I hope we get some answers soon.
Scott,
Did you get my Tuesday e-mail commenting on what the committee should realy discuss?
Howard A. Hickman
Why does Bronco Billy not look more like Clint Eastwood?
Will Walley join the Beaver in the hearing, or do we have to put with Elmer?
Why contemplate a TYC movie when the agency resembels more of a cartoon?
Just a few things I'd like to know.
I agree with 5:15, awesome questions. Goes to show that TYC employees know their stuff!!
I'd like to hear Elmer & Chuy scream for heads to roll at this hearing!! Let's clean house! No sense in keep this leadership in jobs because they need to support their families! What went around should come around. It's time!!
6:16 : maybe more importantly, lets permanently cancel this legislature... the pilot wasn't good and I have my doubts about the summer re-runs. At least Gilligan solved problems (okay, often of his own creation)... can't we please have them instead....
Then again, when was the last time a Texas legislature, not just a few strong individuals EVER done the job for which they were elected?
Howard: no fair, you are leaving us a much in the dark as central office.
Skipper says, "Gilligan!!!!"
Here's a question or two for you Scott:
How much notice will we be graced with in the event of a closure?
Will there be severance pay and/or a continution of health insurance benefits granted to employees who have devoted a number of years to the agency, only to find themselves unemployed with an uncertain future ahead of them? (I've devoted 10 years of my life to the agency)
Anyone reading this from the recently axed John Shero facility might know the answers to these questions. Anyone care to contribute?
oh and I forgot to mentionn the recently closed Marlin facility.
They should also ask about the Blue Ribbon Panel report. One would think it would at least release an interim report soon.
In regards to Grits' query about a rehab plan: They should at least be able to give a progress report on that score. What other plans have they looked at? Which experts or administrators outside TYC have they consulted? Have they brought in any consultants? Are they at least in contact with anyone? ARe they working from any particular model? Have they done, or asked someone else to do, any research whatsoever, even about TYC itself? Maybe they are going to try a pilot project in one facility?
Any one of these would be a bare minimum. Really, they should have come up with a smart short-term plan quickly that addressed immediate needs for safety and order, while working toward a long-term reform that could be brought along over the next year or so. Even implementation of the security-heavy Kimbrough report would have been better than what seems to be happening.
I suspect it won't take long for the lege to find out the reasons for things that have already happened. What they need to focus on is what to do next, and engage in some actual, like, thinking ahead, so more avoidable mistakes aren't made.
Bill Bush
You nailed it Bill with this statement:
"they should have come up with a smart short-term plan quickly that addressed immediate needs for safety and order, while working toward a long-term reform "
As of now, we have no plan and the kids know it. There is a lot of tension in the air...along with a lot of gang signs. Believe me...the kids are contemplating.
All I can say is, TYC needs to be under a microscope. We've had months of indecisive planning, but no plans. Either no decisions or multiple (contradictory) decisions on the same subject, or emergency actions that have to be back tracked because the planning was ignored. The simple facts are that the legislature chose to try to "fix" a complex system in complete ignorance of how the system works and then the govenor chose to leave people without juvenile experience in charge of one of the largest juvenile agencies in the country while it was in complete chaos and those people listened to the legislators (who didn't know jacksh**) and got rid of the only people in the state that had any hope of actually fixing the problems that really did exist (and, by the way, we were already trying to do it.)
On Education
It got to follow the public school model. No other ideas are worth considering. Base it all on dogma and its good to go. Lets get with it.
On Leadership,
A professional bureaucrat from an existing state agency is a must. Hire one and lets get going.
None of this nonsense about getting a retired general or other military person to run the place. What do they know about handling a lot of people?
Question on employment at will
Great! Employment at will is pretty common but still their is usually a criteria or proceedure in an organizations where it is practiced. Arbitrary termination is hardly the rule anywhere.
Who actually fires people at a TYC facility? Which person does it? I mean a JCO can't fire a cook. Who does these things? Does TYC have a proceedure and criteria that is used? If so, what is it?
In regards to the public hearing, they should focus on the implmentation of SB 103.What is the following status of the requirements of SB 103. This was taken directly from our legislators’ summary of SB 103 found on the state capitol website. This should be where they focus their questions in the public hearing as this is the law.
The bill restricts a juvenile court from committing a youth to TYC for a misdemeanor crime or for violation of misdemeanor probation and requires a youth committed to TYC before June 8, 2007, based on a misdemeanor offense, to be discharged from TYC by the youth's 19th birthday.
Senate Bill 103 prohibits TYC from housing, except for short-term assessment and orientation, a youth younger than 15 years of age in the same dormitory as a person who is 17 years of age or older unless TYC determines the placement is necessary for the safety of the youth.
TYC is required to consider the proximity of the residence of a youth's family in determining in which TYC facility to place the youth.
The bill requires TYC to establish a minimum length of stay for each youth who is committed without a determinate sentence.
TYC is required to perform certain medical, treatment history, psychological, and psychiatric examinations on youths as soon as possible after commitment and to perform certain reexaminations to determine if the rehabilitation plan should be modified or continued.
Senate Bill 103 also sets out a parent's bill of rights and requires TYC to assign a caseworker to each committed youth to perform enumerated duties relating to the offender and the offender's family.
Senate Bill 103 requires TYC to develop a reentry and reintegration plan for each youth in custody to ensure continuity of care from entry to final discharge.
The bill also requires TYC to establish a panel to determine whether a youth who has served the minimum length of stay should be discharged, released under supervision, or have the stay in TYC custody extended, and sets out provisions relating to panel membership, procedures, and certain statistical reports.
The bill requires TYC to establish a process by which certain persons may request reconsideration of an extension of stay order issued by the panel.
Senate Bill 103 lowers the age at which a youth must be either released or transferred for confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from 21 years of age to 19 years of age. The bill requires TYC to evaluate a youth serving a determinate sentence who has not been transferred to TDCJ before the youth's 18th birthday to determine if the youth is in need of additional services that could be completed within a six-month period after the youth's 18th birthday to prepare the youth for release or transfer. (so why are there still 19 year olds and older youth in TYC?)
The bill stipulates that a determinate sentenced offender must receive credit for time served in detention before commitment to TYC and credit for time served in TYC before transfer to TDCJ.
Senate Bill 103 modifies the management structure of TYC to replace the governing board with an executive commissioner, who is appointed by the governor subject to senate confirmation and advised by a newly formed nine-member advisory board, whose members are appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house. This structure is in effect until September 1, 2009, after which time TYC will be governed by a seven-member board, whose members are appointed by the governor subject to senate confirmation. Rights, duties, and qualifications of the temporary executive commissioner and advisory board, as well as the governing board, are set out in the bill. (And who is our executive commissioner and where is the advisory panel, isn’t this the governor’s responsibility to appoint them?)
Senate Bill 103 establishes the office of inspector general in TYC to investigate crimes committed by TYC employees, including parole officers employed by or under contract with TYC, and crimes committed in TYC facilities, including contract facilities. The bill authorizes the executive commissioner to select a chief inspector general, who may only be discharged for cause, and sets out the duties of the chief inspector general.
Senate Bill 103 expands the audit authority of the state auditor to include the entire commission, rather than only the financial transactions, and authorizes the state auditor to provide assistance to and work with the office of the inspector general as appropriate. Additionally, TYC is required to regularly conduct internal audits of its correctional facilities and the provision of medical services and to make certain reports to the Joint Select Committee on the Operation and Management of TYC.
A permanent toll-free number must be established by TYC for the purpose of receiving any information concerning the abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children in custody and a chaplain must be employed or formally designated for certain facilities.
Senate Bill 103 institutes an independent special prosecution unit that cooperates with and supports prosecuting attorneys in prosecuting offenses committed on TYC or TDCJ property or by or against a person in custody of TYC or TDCJ while the person is performing a duty away from the agency's property. The bill provides that the county be reimbursed by the state for certain prosecutorial expenses in such cases and authorizes the office of the attorney general to offer assistance in the prosecution of criminal offenses concerning TYC. The bill sets out provisions designating cooperation between a local prosecutor, a grand jury, the special prosecution unit, the office of the inspector general, and the executive commissioner relating to certain allegations, including the alleged physical or sexual abuse of a youth in TYC custody or an investigation related to the alleged abuse. The executive commissioner is required to immediately file a complaint with the appropriate law enforcement agency if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe that a youth in custody is the victim of a crime committed at a TYC facility.
Senate Bill 103 sets out training and assignment standards for juvenile correctional officers and requires TYC to maintain a ratio of not less than one officer performing direct supervisory duties for every 12 youths.
The bill also requires the executive commissioner to do criminal background checks on each TYC volunteer, employee, or direct delivery service provider, and on any person who has access to TYC records.
The bill provides that TYC employees are at-will employees and requires the commission to establish certain employee grievance and disciplinary action procedures.
TYC is required to adopt a zero-tolerance policy concerning the detection, prevention, and punishment of sexual abuse, including consensual sexual contact, of juveniles in TYC custody and to establish a procedure for a youth in custody and a TYC employee to report such incidents. Senate Bill 103 also enhances the punishment for the offense of improper sexual activity with a person in custody to a second degree felony if the offense is committed against a juvenile offender.
The bill also requires TYC to allow certain advocacy and support groups to provide on-site services to youths committed to TYC.
Senate Bill 103 sets out provisions relating to the operation, inspection, and registration of pre-adjudication and post-adjudication secure detention facilities.
Senate Bill 103 creates the Office of Independent Ombudsman of TYC as a state agency to investigate, evaluate, and secure the rights of youths committed to TYC, including youths released under supervision before final discharge, and provides that the independent ombudsman is appointed by the governor subject to senate approval.
Yes, what is the "new plan" for Education?
One question that I would like to know is
Why does this new leadership continue to keep the ones in the trenches in the dark about all the plans that are/may take place in TYC?
People are leaving TYC because of the unknown. If telling us what is going to happen in the future is their fear we will quit, then it is backfiring because we are quiting because we don't know.
We are not being able to make a choice if we want to stay because the change is going to be for the good or leave because we believe it will be for the worst.
They are giving us all the impression that they are hiding the big bomb and they will lite the fuse when they get ready.
Tyc belongs to those who work in the trenches everyday and the taxpayer(including TYC workers) who are footing the bills. We have a right to know what plans they have instore for the money we pay to keep this agency up and running.
We have a right to know what others plan to do to our AGENCY and to be kept informed.
To 10:05 - They can't communicate what they, themselves, don't know.
Your probably right! When you an't got a plan then guess you can't say what it is!
Please note: There is now a posting for Policy Coordinator in Central Office.... now all we need are some policies to coordinate.
In response to Emily @ 11:00 am, the answer is simple...there is none/nothing. In order to answer questions of this type, one must have an idea of what one is doing. The current executive administration is clueless and only concerned with empire building, cronyism and creating an environment of fear and intimidation among the remnants of what used to be TYC. I can still hear Senator Whitmire chiding TYC for the size of the TYC bureaucracy in Austin, the lack of communication with the field, the autonomy of the institutional administrators and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that was used to make sure that nobody "rocked the boat". Well guess what, nothing has changed. Central Office is more unwieldy than ever, staffed primarily with Owens/Pope cronies, who know nothing about juvenile corrections. And could it be that the money to create these "high-dollar" jobs for the TDCJ good ol' boys comes from the salaries of the JCO's that TYC can't hire? And does it take a rocket scientist to see that their is no equal opportunity in the TYC hiring process. How many "appointments" around TYC has the current administration made?
As far as communication with the field goes, we find out more on Grits than we do from our leaders in Austin. Emails come out on a daily basis from the likes of Billy Humphrey et al (usually sent on their behalf by some mindless dupe) that are vague and that reflect just how little he and his pals actually know about juvenile corrections. The constant insistance on knowing every minute detail about what's going on in the field is a living, breathing testament to micromanagement and the paranoia that comes from not having any idea about what you're doing.
And autonomous field administrators? Heaven forbid! The best way to hide their incompetence is to blame and remove anyone who actually has a clue about doing the job right.
When is the executive administration going to step up and start taking responsibility for what they've done (or not done)? It should be soon, because they are running out of "real" TYC staff to blame for their screw-ups.
Bill Bush has the answer...to have a reasonable shot at recovery, TYC needs experienced, qualified juvenile corrections professionals. What we don't need is the ignorant, arrogant power-hungy ego maniacs currently in place.
In todays Austin American Statesman:
AUSTIN — Texas Youth Commission inmates vandalized four buses as they were being moved inland as a precaution against Hurricane Dean, state officials said.
The commission evacuated 183 juvenile offenders from the Evins Regional Juvenile Center near Edinburg as the storm approached. The buses were borrowed from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
"There was damage to seats and graffiti that was etched into the interior," said Michelle Lyons, a department spokeswoman.
A similar incident occurred two years ago when prison buses were deployed to evacuate youths from a Beaumont facility when Hurricane Rita approached.
Jim Hurley, a spokesman for the youth commission, described the recent vandalism as "very minor damage, just superficial."
He said the juvenile inmates got upset because the buses were not air-conditioned. The trip lasted about eight hours.
"The heat was a problem," he said.
The heat was the problem? They made it to Brownwood Texas at 2:30AM. Lets quit trying to make excuses for behavior. It was hot outside so I shot my neighbor!!! Take responsibility and make the youth take responsibility and hopefully they will learn something. By not accepting responsibility TYC is doing just what these youths parents have done all their lives, make excuses and justify their negative behavior. Jim has a lot to learn.
This morning's Statesman is filled with information about TYC that most of the TYC staff have never seen...the directive on use of OC, the ombudsman's concerns about the use of OC. One of the articles even has a reference to a recommendation made by the blue ribbon panel that has yet to appear! How did a national center staff become privy to unreleased information?
Previous commenters have mentioned that the youth know the staff are powerless. How true, how true. It should not be surprising if we soon see "riots" occuring. As for programming, waiting a very long time for the blue ribbon panel report that was to be the guide has resulting in a "hurry-up" development of a new treatment program. While TYC has some well-informed and conscientious treatment staff, it is difficult to plan for contingencies when you are under the gun to produce a product in a short period of time that could have been so much more if the past 5 months had been available to develop it.
As for education, we have heard little to nothing about any planned changes in delivery of services to youth. Will the money have to drive the way education is carried out, ie the public school model? Again, there are knowledgable and creative staff available to develop and deliver an excellent product, but they are hindered by the beaurocratic guidelines and TYCs micromanagement style.
I, too, wonder when we can expect to see a commissioner and board appointed to guide the redesign of the agency. The fear is that the commissioner and board will be none other than our current chief administrator and friends and family.
Perhaps the legislators who designed this reformation based upon Missouri and California's experience could give TYC the resources to really research what has and hasn't worked for these two states? Perhaps youth and parent advocacy representatives could be involved in developing the new TYC?
I believe that the executive group's inability to communicate what is happening within the agency is threefold: they are not sure they have made the best decisions, they are so busy reacting to daily crises, that they neglect to inform, and they don't see informing others as important.
The executive management appears to be relatively unsophisticated in understanding human behavior. They are attempting the impossible; that is, trying to keep the ducks in a single row.
Well put, Nurit!
Anon 5:38,
It sounds like TYC has gone to the opposite extreme with institutional administrators. My research shows without a doubt that they were definitely given too much autonomy until the 1970s, which enabled much abuse.
Back then, central authorities rarely visited the facilities, and when they did, they were treated to a dog and pony show of one variety or another engineered by the superintendent.
Or, on the rare occasions that they actually spoke with youth, they were either told platitudes that the admin wanted to hear, or they heard real complaints but chose not to believe them (many times without even investigating them).
I'm not saying that's what it was like at every TYC facility in 2007, but the Brookins story sure reminded me of that era.
The sense I'm getting here is that there has been some kind of overreaction to this particular problem. And yet many of you also say that the CO remains clueless about what is really happening on the ground. Is it possible to micromanage facility admins while exerting a kind of willful blindness about day to day needs? It seems confusing, but then again I'm here and you're there.
Bill Bush
Didn't they know this would happen?
Any part of the following information you may think is confidential is not; it is ALL either personal observation of events in the public arena,or information available from the public section of the DPS Sex Offender Registry website.
So there I am, in the parking lot of the grocery store and I look up and see one of Texas's numerous sex offenders eight inches away from me. The bad part is that he was in the company of about a 5 year old girl, and his offense was with a 7 year old girl. Although the registry website shows him to be on juvie probation, the local law tells me what I pretty much already know; he has been discharged (he turned 19)and there are no restrictions of any kind on his association with kids. He wasn't even in the free long enough for his hair to grow out, and he is with about a 5 year old girl.
Can the TYC Joint Legislative Committee say 'future victim'?
However sickening this information is 4:08, I appreciate you sharing it with us.
For 6:28 It wasn't easy to walk away from it.
Owens and Pope are going to be flustered at the hearing. I've not seen Pope publicly speak but Owens will simply implode.
7:04...I did not realize it was you that happened to. How awful that must have been.
To 8:48. I'm sorry, but I don't understand exactly what you mean. There are no verbal cues to pick up on when a person posts. You said you didn't realize it was me...and it must have been so awful?
I would understand if you are being facetious or sarcastic; I do already know that how badly I felt walking away was nowhere near as awful as his next victim will feel. If that was what you meant I would agree. If that was not what you meant then I don't understand what your post means about not knowing it was me and how awful it must have been---
7:04 .. please contact the juvenile court judge or law enforcement. Even call your legislators (look them up on the texas legislature site). That kid may be on parole. If not, perhaps an investigation could save that little girl and others. It's worth the effort.
9:42...I am SO sorry I confused you. I re-read your comment and I see now that it was a personal observation that YOU experienced. I thought you were quoting someone else's experience who saw the sex offender with a child and then told you about it. I would certainly never try to be facetious or anything else than serious about something like that. Please know that I did NOT, under any circumstances, think that you were the offender. Again, I am really sorry for the confusion.
For 9:53- I did so immediately. The P.D. Sgt. who called me back said there was nothing they could do about it- he was discharged and there were no restrictions on whether or not he could be aroung little kids. Those kind of restrictions come with parole or probation status, and he was just discharged back to the free, no probation or parole. That is a result of the new legislation. I did everything I could legally do.
For 9:42-No prob, I just couldn't follow the line of thought. Usually when that happens it is just my mind wandering.
Oops, I am 9:42- I meant this post for 10:08.
No prob, I just couldn't follow the line of thought. Usually when that happens it is just my mind wandering.
Having read so many of our new reichfuher's directives and after sitting in a meeting with her, Mr. Ed, and the Angel of Death in which they proclaimed a new, transparent TYC, I'd just as soon see that they'd keep it covered up. We get directives daily on the use of self defense (handle with care), pepper spray, etc., that directly contradict current TYC policies. As it is now, if I spray a kid, according to policy, I could be found as being abusive. If I go by the directives, I'm more less required to shoot first and ask questions later. In either event, I'm supposed to protect the 'child,' myself, others, and public property. Talk about your basic 'bureaupathology.' Its obvious that these people have no clue on how to deal with juveniles and, I suspect, were equally as inept in dealing with adults, either incarcerated or employed. I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up on the pages of a Kafka short story with a giant cockroach patting me down at the gatehouse.
On an other note, we are blocked from reading "GfB" at work. We have become the new Commission of Doublespeak.
....the Whispering Voice
10:05 PM Wrote
"Yes, what is the "new plan" for Education?
One question that I would like to know is
Why does this new leadership continue to keep the ones in the trenches in the dark about all the plans that are/may take place in TYC?"
The new education plan is operation grade skip.
Its all about cretits. CO has a way to bring 16 year wtih 4th grade mastery levels up to high school level in just a week.
All these kids need is a new high school text book and a traditional class room setting. CO has discovered that that is all that is missing. Research shows.
Its amazing! Since each class has about an 80% turnover every two months, the kids will now be able to get credit for a full course in just 6 weeks to two months.
There will be no more remediation since it isn't necessary.
CO knows how to do it. Its called Operation Grade Skip.
Its one of the miracles of modern pedagogy.
I understand the detail will be forthcoming shortly.
Bringing a TYC youth to high school level is great, but according to the latest "plan" they will have to be college level. Last I heard, the "plan" was a "concept paper" from Lamar University, based on their population. Yeah - that population and the TYC population seem to have a lot in common!
Wonder how much the Lamar folks contribute to Whitmire's campaign fund.
What in the world is Operation Grade Skip? What you describe is something you made up, isn't it? There's no way to do what your saying!!!
To 329:
"Bringing a TYC youth to high school level is great, but according to the latest "plan" they will have to be college level."
Great!!! College level is even better. Research show.... Its good.
Skip it all and get down to business. Get rid of the sissy stuff and get them credits.
Skipp the primary stuff and high school as well. It will be technology based. Get em in front of computer and that will be the ticket.
lkvpot
Hey Grits,
As far as the youth of force policy, we just spray and send em a letter......
5:01 P.M. Said
What in the world is Operation Grade Skip? What you describe is something you made up, isn't it? There's no way to do what your saying!!!
I understand thatOperation Grade Skipis the official nickname of a central office innovation.
It is based universal truth that all students want to learn.
Given the right tools, a computer and a text book for example, even the most stubborn underachiever will start to construct his own knowledge. Level of mastery does not matter. Without burdonsome knowledge and meaninless experience credits, will stack up and diplomas will be passed out at an amazing pace. The only limits to passing the TAKS EXIT will be a possible shortage of sharp pencils.
Don't worry. Its all research based.
Senator Madden is looking for peope to testify at the public hearings on th 29th. I wonder how long any of us would last at TYC if we chose to do so? I'd be happy to talk about how (in detail) the current executive administration has failed miserably at anything remotely resembling reform. Unfortunately, I have a mortgage and a family to feed. I think that witnesses are not even necessary. Hell, just look at CO, there are more employees there than ever before (most of them from TDCJ), most of whom have no clue what they're doing. CO was supposed to be scaled down. Look at all of the TDCJ people and personal friends of Jay Kimbrough who have been appointed to positions that should have been posted and interviewed for. Look at the institutions... 1:12 my ass. At the rate we are losing staff, we could be at 1:120 before long. And this is a mandate? Evidently legislative mandate doesn't apply to Ed Owens, Dimitria Pope, Billy Humphrey and the rest of the new and far from improved TYC. Is it or is it not illegal to purchase personal clothing on a state credit card? That's happened at Al Price. How are these people any different than Harrison, Hernandez and Brookins? They too believe that they are untouchable...above the law...accountable to no one. And who do we have to thank for this? The Governor and the Legislature of Texas. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. If something rational isn't done soon, the juvenile justice system in Texas is lost.
I am pleading to any and all TYC terminated employees affected by the implementation of the Senate Bill 103 to attend the hearing at the Capitol Wednesday, August 29th at 10:00 a.m. This is an opportunity to voice many, many concerns. Join the Victim's Rights Advocates, TYC staff and any other concerned citizens in discussing reforms with the panel.
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