I have to say, if the rumor's true, at this point it's hard to blame Judge Meurer for passing up TYC. Without significant resources and enough clout to reverse many bad decisions and hires from the last nine months, the job would be an endlessly ungratifying headache. (Maybe they'll ask Michael Griffiths next - they really need to find somebody with real-world juvie experience, and give them enough power to fix things.)
The biggest problem facing the TYC administration and any future commissioner is the system-wide understaffing crisis, the gravity of which is highlighted in a story today coming out of the Ron Jackson unit in Brownwood.
Sixteen juvenile correctional officers resigned from the STAR unit at Brownwood, supposedly over disputed overtime. But once the overtime question was resolved, none of the 16 agreed to return to the STAR team, which makes me think their concerns were more substantive than media reports let on. Reported AP:
Their departure last week leaves 10 members on the STAR team at the Ron Jackson Unit in Brownwood. If a disturbance or other emergency occurs, off-duty corrections officers or law enforcement agencies will be called, [TYC spokesman Jim] Hurley said.A couple of questions about this immediately come to mind: First, Hurley is wrong to downplay the Brownwood STAR team losing 60% of its members at a whack. If this begins a trend, it spells trouble. Hurley said the agency just needs to "replenish the ranks," but the whole agency is understaffed, so that's much easier said than done.
Also, outside law enforcement agencies aren't trained to deal with TYC youth, and off-duty correctional officers may not have received necessary training to participate in the STAR team.
In any event, relying on off-duty employees or outside agencies to respond to emergencies lengthens the potential time a crisis must be left swirling at the facility before the STAR team can get there, worsening safety for youth and staff on the ground.
(UPDATE/CORRECTION: Contrary to the AP report, all 16 Brownwood STAR team officers in question have re-applied for their jobs, but have not been reinstated because TYC CO insists they re-submit to testing and PT. See the comments for more detail.)
If TYC cannot reverse understaffing trends, it won't be long - perhaps sometime next year - before the only option left will be to bring in the National Guard or state police to keep staffing levels at statutorily mandated 12-1 ratios. Already caseworkers are serving as guards, necessarily shortchanging their regular duties. The fact that the agency is now cannibalizing unfilled positions to pay for overtime shows the Legislature simply did not budget enough money to increase staffing to mandated levels.
At some point, pay needs to be increased - if a dangerous job guarding criminal youth pays comparable wages to the WalMart, who wouldn't choose to work at WalMart? But more importantly, the agency's employment culture must improve to reverse mounting losses among critical workers. The current management crew can't accomplish that, IMO, so I'm glad to hear Gov. Perry's people are out beating the bushes for better leadership. It'd be a great Christmas gift for TYC employees if they could get a new boss before the holiday along with their belated overtime checks.
.jpg)
80 comments:
Hell, SBC and WTSS don't even have star teams anymore.
Meurer turned down the spot because she was told Dementia is untouchable.
Anybody know of other units where STAR teams are short-staffed or have been eliminated?
I'm elated to hear the guv is actually looking for a qualified person to run TYC. However, he must show Dementia the exit door because the new person will need the authority to make changes without her taking control. He/she will need to mop up after the razing committed by the incompetent TDCJ employees she hired. It would be a wonderful Christmas present for TYC.
I agree that the present top leadership must be shown the door. I can think of a couple of former top TYC officials who are both qualified and clean from the past scandal. How about Dr. Brantley? Or, go further back and try to coax Sandy Burnham out of retirement.
I also agree that funding is key. Once again, the legislature severely underfunded TYC. Call 'em back into session, Guv!
If you appoint a decent, competent individual, give them the authority to make the changes needed, and call the legislature back into session for emergency funding, there are a lot of folks like me who will change our opinion about you.
If you can't, or won't pull it off, then we were right about you. Show us some character! I would love to be proved wrong about you. Old Salty.
If Brantley is "clean", then I can think of several others that were forced out by TYC that are also "clean" that are more competent and who do and have done a better job than Brantley. To name a few, Reyes, Nichols, Helm, Clay, Barnard, Murdoch, in order. If they would brush up on their social skills, you can even throw Freeman and Harrison in the mix, they have more expertise and common sense than Brantleyon any given day.
Y'all I just deleted a comment making derogatory statements about a third-tier TYC employee that were overtly libelous. Try not to rip each other to shreds, will ya? There's really no need to get that nasty, and I don't have time or energy to moderate every comment. Thanks,
My apologies, much worse has been written about me on this blog.
By name? I know the comments on TYC strings have sometimes been abused - there are just too many for me to regularly moderate - and that's why I'm asking for some self-restraint. If possible, I'd like to raise expectations, if we can. Policy disputes are fine, just stay away from the personal-level smears. Thx.
So what's the point of letting someone "run" TYC if that person doesn't have authority / budget to fix its problems? That's not really "running" it. Sounds like an illusory position, to be filled with an impotent figurehead, for the purpose of pacifying critics.
The bottom line is that D'ope cannot remain. I think about five people in the world have any respect for her (the sheep she brought over from TDJC). No self-respecting leader would serve alongside her. No one can turn this place around with D'opes interference.
Perry maintains a friend in Whitmire by allowing D'ope to be protected, but in return, he antagonizes everyone else. Presumably, he has weighed his options and has decided that it is less costly to keep D'ope than to rid her. Since the bulk of us are not privvy to the backroom dealings and machinations up there at the Capitol, we cannot truly know what informs his reasoning. But I surely doubt that his notion of the "welfare of Texas" is what drives him in this case. It's more likely that he has been promised some personal gain in the future, and in trade, must allow D'ope to remain.
I sure hope Perry's calculations change soon. He certainly has enough ammunition to remove D'ope. Just read the newspapers on a daily basis. How many fumbles have occurred in these past several months? This level of (in)competence wouldn't be tolerated in a lower-level employee. They would have been shown the door long ago. So why is it tolerated in the upper ranks?
TYC desperately needs a good dose of self-esteem. We need a shot-in-the-arm of hope and optimism. We are all ready to rally behind a respectable administration. You will see a new zest in people when the new leadership arrives.
That's quite a bombshell story, Grits... if Judge Meurer was available and didn't take the job, as you say, b/c she wasn't going to wield any real authority, or have any funds to work with, then the real impediment to change is with the state's political leadership.
But I can't fathom why they wouldn't want to save themselves with the lifeline that Meurer or another prominent juvie official represents.
Clearly this is about politics that have nothing to do with the well-being of either the kids or the staff. But for the life of me I still don't have a grip on what those politics are.
I for one would love to hear Gov Perry, Sen Whitmire, or Sen Madden, or Sen Hinojosa, answer some pointed questions about their decisions and explain their plans for this broken, crumbling agency. I'd like to hear what they think juvenile justice is, and what it should be...
BB
Star Teams ar short at every facility.....
I said months ago, numerous times that the national guard already needed to be called in. They could come in for a week and let all the staff have a vacation and I guarantee you all would come back after that week, well and ready to go.
Most staff say they quit because of staff, not the kids.
Outside law enforcement know exactly how they are supposed to treat the kids. They arrested them in the first place and they are the ones to haul them to detention centers because they can't stay in the county jails...juveniles can't mix with adults there.
It is the TDCJ staff who don't know how to work with the kids because adult rules for inmates differ so much from juvenile rules.
I doubt that lack of money had anything to do with Meurer's decision. One would have to be familiar with operational costs at TYC to have any idea about lack of money. Any money problems that exist are the result of the decisions made by the TDCJ administrators to hire expensive management staff, needless consultant contracts, purchasing polo shirts and vests, redecorating the Central Office, rearranging the office assignments, and creating a staff shortage that requires so much overtime.
Howard A. Hickman
If TYC wants to properly and appropriately correct itself, move forward from the position the agency now finds itself in, it can be completed successfully. Much of the problem the agency has or has had stems from the same type of rederic and commentary posted on these blogs. To many good and bad ideas not put into perspective and properly shared unilaterally.
Unfortunately the agency needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. Much as you would any broken down object or for analogy purposes only such as rebuilding an old house in total disrepair. Use the same foundation stronger principles, obtain new material, new ideas, new program projections, new concepts and yes new staff requirements also.
Take one step at a time. Start slowly. Ensure each step is viable and will support the next before moving forward. Move ahead by seeking independent advise, look at the good and bad of other juvenile programs. Pick the best material and see if it fits. You can always remove a bad fit for your program. Ensure there are safeguards in administration so no one person can build a click of corruption as before. Rotate superintendants on a regular bases and offer all staff incentives for those that are willing to move and offer their talents at other state schools as appropriate. This would not be forced, used only on a voluntary bases.
On a rotational bases Central Office Executive staff would change and be rotated every four years back into the field to state schools as other qualified personell would fill those positions as appropriate. The days of suck-ups and politics would be over. Salaries are scale based on education, seniority and other life experience. All staff would be merit eligible annually based on no more than five factors to prevent favoritism and cronyism etc.
The focus has to be be about getting our Texas youth thinking straight with moral foundations based on basic human relations, using fundemental programs focused on the individual offender. TYC's cookie cutter approach was doomed to fail because youth were never classified properly and all thrown together. This approach must be central to success. Having appropriate programing for similarly classified youth goes beyond what TYC offered in the past.
This summary is only a summary of basic ideas. This will cost our taxpayers Billions. Once corrected put back on track with proper managed objects and measured success the cost may go down. We must pay the price to rebuild. Correct past problems, refuse to allow TYC to fall apart again. If we don't we will lose this generation, the next and so on.
Your thinking is clear and outstandingly logical. However, there is no logic in Texas government that has the mentality to allow a change like this for TYC. Especially since they did not think of these ideas first.
1:22,
Classifying youth to the infintessimal degree does not solve any problem. TYC's classification system is not the problem but a lack of treatment programs and options is. TYC's classification system already creates more subclassifications than there are treatment programs.
As to rotating CO personnel to the field, I seriously doubt it will be of much benefit to the telephone operator, computer technicians, accountants, and so on. Suck ups and politics exist everywhere in life, even in the state schools. Fortunately they were relatively few in number until the conservator instituted cronyism which seemed to produce one with each new hire. Unless you can solve human nature, they will always be with us.
Howard A. Hickman
H.H., You must have a classification process in corrections to develop a treatment process. A program must have a classification and security designation to develop a treatment for an offender. You are to ingrained in legal philosophy and irrelevant trivial to engage in correctional discussions.
Leave correctional processes to correctional professionals. You still have the old TYC mentality of we/I can't do that, it might make so in so mad. It can and must be done. Technology and phones lines can be changed and coordinated. Suck-ups and politicians need to be removed from the ideology of juvenile corrections. Move on and over Howard Hickman you have the old fart TYC attitude. That is part of TYC's biggest problems.
TYC does need an outsider to bring change and run this agency. A person that is not afraid to speak their mind, rather than the status quo of you have to: "walk the walk and talk the talk." TYC needs a leader that can and will stand-up for what is right and logical, staff issues, and can stand up for the kid's, right, wrong or indifferent.
TYC youth feel and felt so grouped as a whole rather than as an individual. Even today many are suffering for others poor behavior or having to deal with the insanity of outdated TYC programming problems or none at all. When trying to change positively surrounded by negativity how is a youth to change effectively? Who are you 2:40 P.M.?
Howard may have the old fart TYC attitude, but he has been in CO and knows how they work. I think his expertise in how the law works is very helpful to this blog and we need his "Free legal" advise here. So don't be so quick to shut him down.
We are fighting a loosing battle and we all know it. But sometimes there is hope in what one says, here. Hope is all TYC has right now that the state of texas will soon be forced to take the correct action in rebuilding our Town.
No one has the answers, that is something that has to be discussed and explored, but we as line staff can only sit back and watch and hope for the best fix.
3:08, You hit it right on the head:
"H.H worked in Central Office and knows how they worked!
It's time to move forward and forget how they worked in Central Office. The agency can't stand anymore of that.
Governor Perry would be wise to stay away from attorneys, judges, or any legal professionals, period!
Perry needs to seek someone who is able, has correctional experience but not to much administrative experience. A person confident to look him in the eye and tell him what he needs to hear, rather than what he wants to hear.
A person that has enough self-esteem to tell the truth to legislators and present accurate failings of the agency. A person that has no personal agenda for him or herself. A person that can work the trenches with kids as comfortably as spelling it out to the Governor or legislature the needs of the agency.
How they are working in central office now is NOTHING like how things 'used to work'.
Ten. Times. Worse.
The grass ain't greener - in fact, it's not even grass anymore. It's toxic, crappy astroturf made out of recycled truck tires and asbestos leftovers.
Anyone, anywhere, think anything is better now? Anyone? Beuller??
Yeah.
2:40,
I find it interesting that people who have never worked in the Central Office know everything about it but can not understand how someone who is not out in the field knows anything about corrections or treatment.
2:40, you do not know how I think or what my attitude is. Have you ever even met me? Do you even know what my background is? Exactly what is the "old fart TYC attitude"?
Howard A. Hickman
Rip dat ass Howard.
Mr. Hickman,
Relax, and move on. Your last post confirms your attitude. It also indicates some confusion in your abilities. Maybe you should have visted with Line staff more to determine the real issues in TYC. You are not qualified to determine or debate juvenile correctional policy. Nor is your background relevant to the needs of juvemile offenders in TYC. You are/were part of the problem PERIOD!
Rip dat ass 6:24 PM
Hey 6:19 PM-6:27 PM,
You sound like the trash that TYC needs to remove from working with our youth. What does (Dat) mean? Get your life together Datman.
Just someone who likes to start fights and does not give a rats a-- about TYC. But gets thrills out of reading a response after they think they trashed someone. Lets not respond and they will go away. It will no longer be fun for them and they will move on.
6:24 and 6:27,
One of the things I learned long ago, that in treatment it is necessary to understand the background and history of the patient. I would hate for anything like that to stand in the way of your bigotry.
Howard A. Hickman
8:13 am - Are you high? Most all of the people you named (except Neil and Emily) are part of the reason we're where we are today. The rest ether forgot why we are in business or are just down right crooks. Once you come down, you should rethink your position.
Can you guys knock it off?
Judge Meurer would have been a nice fit. Grits - Can you get more specific as to what she wanted to do that turned her away? I'd love to hear what the reasons were for her denying the job. Was the job as Conservator or what? Boy I'd love to hear as much detail as you can give.
As Paul Harvey would say and now the rest of the storie. It would have been nice if any of the reporters or those in Austin would have told you the real reason for the STAR team quitting in Brownwood. What it boiled down to was that Administration in Austin violated their own policy on STAR team overtime. PRS 19-23 subsection E which states that if a STAR team is deployed to a emergency situation that there overtime will be payed. Central office took it upon themselves to start deducting time for vacation days which is in violation of there own policy. Then they sent represenatives to Brownwood to try and tell the team that we were trying to hold the state hostage and then continued to try and scold us like we were 5 years old. We then informed them that the STAR team was there on a voluntary basis. We also informed them that at this time we had not had a STAR team budget for the past five years and that we owned most of our equipment. And that our equipment was outdated. Also they the state do not allow the team enough money for travel and that most of the time that we ended up losing money because they never allowed enough for hotel room when we travel.We the Brownwood ex-STAR team then reapplied for our positions and were told that we would have to retest again. So much for the no retaliation by central office. Had it not been for our respect for Mrs. Stroud, Mr.Adamski and last but not least Mr. B.C. Harden we would have gladly stayed gone. Why else would you want to do this job?
Funny - I have never worked in Central Office, and I used to see Howard in the field, where I work, quite frequently.
I also remember a time when I did not have to post anonymously on the internet to express myself. Even though I am a relative peon, I could pick up the phone, or type out an e-mail to Neil, Emily, Linda, Marie or Don and tell them what I think, and never fear retribution. They always treated me with respect and always answered my questions, and never, ever, even scolded me for questioning them. Old Salty
I am glad that you had such good experiences with the adminstrators at that time. But not everyone did.
But when you have a entire dept.begging for help and they rule aganist them, then you kind of have a different opinion. By the way, still begging for help with the same situation and no one will help. So many have just quit and many more are headed in that same direction.
Grits,
KTF is correct. STAR teams are short staffed at all facilities.
Old Salty (9:34): ditto
Judge Meurer did a smart move turning down the offer if it was true ,,,Unlike other Judges She has guts and would not take any shit from these trash in central office...
I feel we are all wasting our time on this site the only people who read it is TYC Staff and no Legislators or anyone who can do anything about the situation.
Let them do what they have to do and when they destroy the Agency we can clean it up after they are removed.
Its very strange that we are all being Raped by the State! Isnt that what that fool wrote about in West Texas and look at all of us now ...Ha Ha Maybe old Phsyco was right!!!
Hello Grits just back from vacation and glad to see nothing has changed.It well be hard to find someone to run TYC because everybody in Austin has that hand in the cookie jar.Like the old saying goes,To many Chief's and not enough Indian's.And buy the way 2:40,3:27,6:24 it was me.Glad to be back.
Joe
Let the local P.D. Handle it ,, As one Officer said to a TYC Youth last year, Welcome to my World, we do not follow TYC Policy we follow ours ....Lol,,and thats what it will take to get someones attention,,You can call the Hot Line all you want and they cannot help you get out of that one,,,I can hardly wait for that one to happen and you know what there is little the Youth can do at that point due to the Police not being trained in our way of dealing with (As Chuey said Children)
The STAR team is not short staffed at our facility
Don't go jumping on the Meurer band wagon. She would be no better than what is currently present. Burnham, Nichols, and Reyes would be far better selections. And how about Carey Cockerell, who would bring integrity, vision, and knowledge to the job.
Oh, Howard: You are missing the point. Stop feeling personally attcked, it's OK.
8:51,
I assume you are 6:24 or 6:27. It is hard to find a point when you do not have one other than creating chaos and spouting unsubstantiate BS. You get my point - You do not have one. You may take that personally. It's okay. I shall waste my time no more with you.
Howard A. Hickman
Cockerell was runner-up to Meurer. Both met with guv goodhair; then both met with Shitmire. Both were told Dementia's off limits. Both asked how they were supposed to do their jobs (Conservator) if they were being told from the outset how to do thier job; both turned it down.
You cannot argue the point. Because you missed the point. No need to get so upset. I Shall Waste My Time No More With You Either!
11:25, you aren't wasting your time with your comments on this site. As a
parent of an incarcerated youth, I am getting a good look at the mentality of
the people working with our kids by what you are revealing. It is pretty
clear the morale at TYC suffers considerably and I can tell you it affects our
kids. There are good, caring people working on the units, but you must admit
there are a large number who couldn't get a job just anywhere. Your attitude
needs to change. If we were allowed to reward the staff, which we are not,
I would be happy to give you some cheese with your whine.
And just for the record, we aren't all dead beat parents as John Whitmire,
Jerry Madden and Debbie Riddle would make us out to be.
I understand Helms & Nichols were great at their jobs and qualified to boot. It would be great if they would somehow return. I don't know a thing about Brantley, can't comment on him. Although, I've heard that in his field, he is great one. Barnard & Clay, however should be barred from ever working in juvenile corrections along with Harrison. These people are master manipulators and wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them on the face, much less tell it. Like Dementia, they were never transparent and everything was under the table, in dark smoked filled rooms, with shady characters present and they pulled up their shady cronies, that's why we find ourselves in the Cesspool Hall of Fame. Should make the guv & lege really proud!!
Guv Goodhair needs to do extensive background checks when placing people in high level positions. When he decides to appoint our next leader, that person should undergo House & Senate confirmation and publicly televised. Taxpayers, parents and employees should be able to have input in the appointment. The agency needs to become credible, ethical, well respected and accomplished immediately.
I do agree with the parent that stated they should not all be lumped into the deadbeat category. Personally, I have seen kids from all walks of life end up in TYC. Whoever you are, you need to rally all TYC parents & pressure the governor & our elected officals to make the necessary changes to improve the morale of TYC employees because your kids have have been entrusted to care and find treatment for your kids. YOU CAN BE THE ONE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE and ensure the current leadership is shown the exit door and TYC is improved.
The political drama to keep Dementia & her cronies, at any expense, should be adressed and dealt with. Change is slow to take place and I understand that. Has anyone seen even an iota of change in the months they have been in office, so to speak!! They were forced to follow the TYC pepper spray policy by the advocacy groups. They were forced to reinstate OT payments to JCO staff by law!!! How much more crow will they need to eat before we send them packing?? It seems that in all this mess, someone has forgotten the purpose of our agency.
Hope
I would love to see Don come back in any capacity. Another good person for Conservator would be Judy Briscoe but I doubt she would be willing to come back either.
I think Judy and Sandy are enjoying their well-earned retirements enough that they would not be tempted to come back. Too bad. The shameful manner in which Whitmire treated Neil makes it highly unlikely that he would want to come back either. Linda would do a great job, but no one in the political arena is ever going to admit they made a mistake with her; they'll never invite her back.
Let's face it, if it is true that any persons in the present administration have been put "off limits," no qualified person in his or her right mind would take the job. I hope the person who posted those comments is mistaken.
To the parent who just posted here, thank you. We need more like you. There are a lot of good staff who love to work with parents such as you. It does take a cooperative effort between TYC staff and parents to turn most of these kids around. I have met and talked with many parents who want desparately to help their children in any way they can. They come from all walks of life. I am not talking about those parents who make excuses for their kids and refuse to believe little Johnny ever did anything wrong - those types are deadly. I'm talking about parents like this one that just posted, parents who want to work with TYC to achieve needed change with their child and want to ensure that their child is not abused in the process.
You parents have a vested interest in seeing to it that TYC hires, properly trains and keeps the right kind of staff. You have a vested interest in making sure the leadership of TYC truly cares about both the kids and the staff.
Call the Governor's office, call your representative and Senator - tell them you are not happy and you want change. Tell them you want a strong head of TYC who will act in the best interests of your child and the staff who work with your child. If you are a member of a church, get your preacher involved. You can make a difference. Old Salty
Um, 4:17, you mean people like Billy Humphrey? I don't think so, bro.
Thank all of you for your kind comments about parents! The parents ARE rallied and their numbers ARE growing. If you haven't heard of TEXAS FAMILIES OF INCARCERATED YOUTH, (TFIY) you will. We meet once a month in different locations to give people a chance to attend close to their home or unit where their child is incarcerated. Some of our members have spent their weekends passing out flyers to parents and interested people and visiting with parents and kids in the visiting rooms on the unit so they know we exist. All with TYC's blessing. We feel we ARE making a difference both for our kids and TYC. We aren't "out to get" anyone, just trying to make it a better place for the youth at TYC. TFIY is gaining membership and respect and we plan on our voices being heard.
How about trying to keep your kid outta there?
If Pope really is untouchable, then Perry's a bigger dunce than I even thought. I hope he has the number handy for the National Guard, because he;ll need it.
To the organized parents, TFIY, I encourage you to disregard posters like 8:01 p.m. He/she obviously is not a parent nor a TYC employee. As a parent myself, I know we lay the foundation for our kids but that does not determine the outcome of their life. Sooner or later, they will have to make choices of their own. Some times they make the right ones and sometimes, even with a strong support system, they make the wrong ones!!
Here's hoping you can make a difference for the sake of TYC youth & employees. I commend you for organizing and attempting to do some good for our troubled youth.
Those of us that have stuck it out and have been around for several years, did it because we have a calling. We want to see a youth succeed and become productive members of society. The feeling of seeing one become successful is worth our effort and its an awesome feeling.
Hats off to those parents that care and take a vested interest in their child.
Hope
If TYC is out of money there is a gross case of financial mismanagement occurring right now. TEA allotted education monies for both San Saba and Marlin through March 31, 2008. If that money is gone, Dementia Pope is as guilty of Fraud as Yvonne Gonzales was in Dallas several years ago.
WELLL WELL LOOKS LIKE THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS,,,LOOKS LIKE IN OUR DISTRICT OLD TROY FRASIER IS RUNNING FOR OFFICE ONE MORE TIME...HE JUST SAID HE CREATED JOBS AS WELL AS ALWAYS WAS AVAILABE EITHER ON PHONE OR IN PERSON HMMMMMM..OH WELL I GUESS HE DIDNT HAVE A COMPUTER DURING THE LAST SESSION ..OK LETS STARTVOTING THESE FOOLS OUT OF OFFICE AND LETS START WITH HIM!!!!
IN BROWNWOOD TEXAS WE HAVE NO ONE TO REPRESENT US IN AUSTIN WHO CAN HELP US AS SOME GRITS COMMENTS SAY CONTACT YOUR REPS.. WELL WE HAVE WITHOUT ANY HELP SO NOW IS YOUR CHANCE BROWNWOOD ...VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE AND MAYBE LET HIM WORK FOR D-POPE,,,
When the Executive Director is wasting her time making "important" decisions about rearranging offices and picking out carpets you know she doesn't have a clue about running the agency. She could probably make a better living, with less stress, as a Hollywood interior designer!
If it is true that she is "untouchable," what competent person in his/her right mind would want to oversee this agency?
ALAN "CHIP" WALTERS for exuctive director!!!
Mr. Walters is a fine individual and a hard worker. However, I think he has more sense than to want that job right now. He would definitely be a step up from Pope, but then who wouldn't be??
Be careful, because Pope will fire at will anyone she thinks is any kind of threat.
Maybe Perry can go down to the bus station and find a homeless person who would be better than Pope. They might accept the job.
I am not sure why Governor Perry would really be invested in the Pope sticking around. More than likely that is the preference of Whitmire. But basically Perry can appoint whoever he wants and if that person has a mind to dis the pope then so be it. Might teach the legislature to go gunning for conservatorship.
Walters?? How about Ayo the infamous WTSS PS II who rose to prominence as the Assistant Superintendent at the same place for 4 months and then was promoted to Al Price Superintendent for 2 months and then to Regional Director. Seems like he really knows his stuff or the right people. AYO for Director.
I would like to retract AYO and replace him with Bronco, he has the foresight and expertise to lead this agency. Look at what he has accomplished in his 6 months already, what I swell guy.
I think Jerome Williams should be ED, he is doing such a fine job at Crockett.
I wish the lege or perry could spell
LACK OF LEADERSHIP
Meurer said she talked to the governor’s office about a post at the troubled Texas Youth Commission but nothing came of it.
Billy the "Humpster" could lead this swell agency. Look at all of the positive role models he has chosen for Superintendents, Regional Directors, and Assistant Superintendents. Now anyone with this kind of foresight should seriously considered to lead an agency.
Whoever takes over this agency will have to have both a clear mandate, and the authority to carry it out. Sad to say, I'm afraid the evidence suggests that the current head has both. (Notice I did not use the word, "leader" - I have seen zero evidence of leadership from this administration).
Who are the six people the Governor's Office interviewed about the conservator position and who turned it down when they were told that Pope would continue as acting executive director?
Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, and Sneezy. Dopey got kicked out of the interview for not wearing black pants.
I am quite sure that no one will take the conservator's position as long as Pope is there. I cannot figure out why the legislature has allowed her to remain as the Acting ED!!! She has painted a pretty picture of TYC to the legislative committees, but the oil runs!!There is no 12:1 ratio or a treatment program. Her redaction of the black pants and shoes is an example of someone who doesn't think before they speak.
I never knew just how dirty Texas politics were until this mess. I should have known when Whitmire left the state a few years ago to avoid voting on a bill!!!
Perry can appoint 15 conservators, but has long as Pope is untouchable, then it won't do any good. What makes her untouchable? Let me guess!!!
Is it the hair on her chinny chin-chin? Or the hypocricy in the eyes?
12/4 @ 10:27 p.m. Ayo and Bronco Billy already think they run the agency. Their collective inflated heads can't fit in the same door together!! Sadly, between the two, they couldn't run a McDonald's much less TYC!!!!!!
You Damm fools still don't get it. Anyone who was, is or has been involved with his agency cannot be involved in it's reclamation. Chip Walter's is as stupid as they come. He's another Jrome Parsee. Donky or Bronco Billy is as fried as Crisco frying chicken on at hot July sunday afternoon. Humpin Billy is just Humpin. Any body out west can't find himself a doney to play with. J H Christ, no wonder this agnecy is F----- - UP
If the Gov supports the "Dementia is untouchable" approach, then he might just as well appoint her conservator or even commissioner because no one with any reputation, sense or integrity is going to accept responsibility for the agency under that constraint. Of course, if the Gov appoints Dementia, then her ultimate failure will be fully his responsiblity.
I think Whitmire has the Governor backed into a corner. Let's see who blinks first. My bet is that it won't be Whitmire. Whitmire is punking him good!
RE: Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, and Sneezy. Dopey got kicked out of the interview for not wearing black pants.
LMAO now that is funny!!!!!!
10:07 - you obviously don't know Chip Walters. He comes on as an ignorant cowboy, but he is as slick as teflon.
Post a Comment