For those hoping to listen in to the TYC oversight hearing this morning, it begins at 10 a.m. and you can listen in at this link. There will be no public testimony, and only conservator Richard Nedelkoff and Ombudsman Will Harrell have been invited to testify. Use the comments as an open thread to discuss the event.
UPDATE: Here's the link to archived video from today's hearing.
RELATED: See the Dallas News editorial titled, "Too afraid to speak," which brings the debate over TYC back to the question of abuse and intimidation of youth that launched the current scandal. An excerpt: "Imagine you are that teenager stuck in a hellhole existence, and no one on the outside really knows what's going on because you're afraid to say. Consider your hopelessness, crying yourself to sleep, trying to get through another day living in abject fear."
ALSO: I failed to link when it came out to Chicago Tribune reporter Howard Witt's update on the Paris girl whose case was paired with Shaquanda Cotton in coverage of TYC sentencing policies. This case took a fascinating turn. Originally, Witt's coverage portrayed Cotton as receiving harsher treatment from a local judge because of race. But protests by civil rights groups caused Cotton's release last spring, while her white counterpart violated probation, went to TYC, and wound up being sexually abused by a guard, who was indicted in December. She's now being released too; TYC initially had refused to take into account her status as a sexual assault victim in its release decision, Witt reported, but changed its mind earlier this month and let her go.
Too afraid to speak
ReplyDeleteThe same happens in our "Public Schools"
Intimidation rules...watch ole Whitmire today and say it isn't so.
So far TYC has given Whitmire a gun and said "shoot me"! Reference volunteers and fingerprinting.
ReplyDeleteRetired 2004
Is that Whitmire who will ask a question and wont let the person speak without letting them speak? Wont let them get a word in edgewise. He is stupid!!!
ReplyDeleteWhitmire ,and other committee members uncovered another major problem;(IMO)the volunteer program. The TYC paid employees didn't field the questions to the benefit of the volunteer progam.
ReplyDeleteThe valley committee member woke up when another member questioned the location of some facilities and their relationship to hiring staff.
Retired 2004
Actually I think Whitmire's being pretty restrained so far.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought the discussion of volunteers went pretty well; 1100 volunteers at 21 facilities is a lot of folks.
Retired, what problems in your opinion are there with the volunteer program?
If this committee ever questioned Dimitria Pope this closely about how TYC runs, things wouldn't be this bad.
ReplyDelete43% turnover among JCOs!!!!!! And it's an "improvement." Good Gawd!!!
whitmire just asks questions but he doesn't give anyone a chance to answer. No one else on the committee even says anything
ReplyDeleteYawn! Same crap over and over again about recruiting people to the desert. Everyone knows that rural locations for these facilities will not attract the necessary number of staff. Do something about it for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVery few college graduate want to go to work at TYC starting out as a JCO. Same applies for TDCJ. It's an unskilled job, period.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the legislator (don't know his name, Dutton maybe?) who can't understand why recruting employees is more difficult than volunteers. Hello? Volunteers only have to sign up for a couple of hours and can have other careers. It's obvious. Duh
ReplyDeleteFlorence Shapiro said this was the most aggressive the Lege has ever been with TYC - no doubt! D'Pope never got the third degree they're giving Nedelkoff.
ReplyDeleteDon't you wish someone - anyone - would just say, "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? I couldn't hear your question over the others talking."
ReplyDeleteI wish I had Nedlekoff's patience. Pope was never be made to answer such detailed questions . . . must be because they all knew she didn't know squat!
Hell, they were paying Pope 140K. What's the problem?
ReplyDeleteNedelkoff pointed out that when D'Pope posted the position last summer, the max pay was $170K! This is a non-issue, except that Whitmire wants to bust Mr. N's balls.
ReplyDeleteWhitmire is such a jerk. He won't let Nedelkoff answer a question.
ReplyDeleteblahblahblahblah.
Nedelkoff has only been there 2 months. He should be blaming Pope not Nedelkoff.
Scott: Step back and listen to the committee hearing from the insider's (texas politician) perspective; Richard will not be a long term conservator.
ReplyDeleteVacillation is not, in my opinion, an example of moving forward.
In reference to your question concerning volunteers. . . "1100 volunteers at 21 facilties is a lot of folks". TYC Staff did not know how many of these "folks" are kin or have a close relationship with the youth. It is common knowledge at the TYC facilities of the volunteer involvement with youth, including being without TYC staff at times. Unbelievable!
One last comment. I do not witness any movement towards straightening out TYC; I only hear what I have heard for the last few months, talk about what needs to be done and what studies are being made.
Will H. has more understanding about what needs to be done. Could somebody PLEASE hire somebody to take action as opposed to talking about looking at things to determine what kind of action may be taken. If TYC responders were firemen the building would have burned down a long, long time ago.
Retired 2004
It is clear that the Joint Oversight Committee is looking for a reason to blame anyone but Ms. Pope or themsleves for the fact that very little has been accomplished toward improving TYC.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that they did not find anything......so far. They're still looking when all they need is a mirror.
Hopefully they'll overcome their own fear or guilt and really get to work solving some of these horrible problems.
They grilled Nedelkoff all day. Tough questions. The kind of questions we've been waiting for them to ask.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, as usual, they didn't ask them of the person they really should have (Pope). I really would have liked to see her try and answer those questions with as much professionalism as Nedelkoff did.
Interestingly they didn't ask Nedelkoff anything more about firing Pope, only about the timeline and salary of the next ED.
Retired, the volunteer coordinator for TYC, FWIW, said only 5 volunteers statewide were relatives of kids in TYC. Maybe there are others who concealed the relationship, but if that's it it doesn't sound to me like a BIG problem (at least in an agency with truly big problems).
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with 2:43, I'd have liked to see the former E.D. questioned as vigorously. All of sudden, fixing TYC is "easy" - it's just a small little agency - geez! When Pope was there, he began her questioning by telling her she had the hardest job in the state and lavishing her with praise for being willing to take it on! Which is it, a difficult task or another thing the senator could accomplish "before breakfast"?
OTOH, the post-Pope transition was never going to be easy, and it was inevitable Nedelkoff would have to take his shots; I thought he did so with aplomb.
Earlier in the week I feared this hearing would be ONLY about her firing. The fact that they discussed issues so thoroughly instead, IMO, is a good thing, and with Sen. Shapiro, I hope it's a harbinger of things to come.
Thanks for providing that link ( too afraid to speak) Scott. As somebody who worked at McFadden Ranch, I can assure you that those youth who gathered the courage to speak up were ridiculed and verbally abused. One behavior group comes to mind, a youth who had written several grievances was placed in the middle of a group of every available staff member and all the McFadden youth. He was forced by Lisa Cooke and David Koerner to address each youth and tell them that he hates them and doesn't care what happens to them. He was told he "victimized" McFadden Ranch and he was still in his criminal code. Scott, If i had the power, I would have stopped that entire group! We are JCO staff, we are NOT judges or jury's. Its our place to make sure these kids are safe and secure in state custody, NOT to humiliate them and degrade them! My heart broke for that boy that day, after the group was over, several youth asked for the hotline. I filed a grievance against the group because I felt that the youths rights were being violated.
ReplyDeleteThey are people. We don't have to like them, but we have to treat them like people. They are somebody's children.
2/22...10:15 pm. Couldn't have said it any better myself. TYC needs more like you. Thank you for putting the kids first.
ReplyDeleteTo the postings at 10:15 p.m. on 2/22 and again on 2/25 at 11:06 a.m.... For the disgruntled and ex-employees of McFaddden Ranch,do all of us a favor and please be gone. Your accusations are not substantiated by evidence. Let it go!
ReplyDelete