I've been focused elsewhere and have yet to read the lengthy bill, much less analyze in detail exactly what it would do. I'm not sure who has outside of those directly involved in its drafting - I've seen few if any journalistic nor bureaucratic analyses of the legislation so far. So I suspect we'll learn a lot at this hearing about the details of the proposal as well as the interests and criticisms of various stakeholders.
In related news, I should also mention that TYC has created a process for public input on which units it should close. According to a recent message to employees from TYC executive director Cherie Townsend:
At the direction of the TYC Board, the agency will begin a process during the next two months (March and April) of determining which facilities will be closed. This process will be much like that used by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission when they close down federal military installations. We will schedule community hearings in each location where we have a facility. At that time, we will hear from employees and community leaders about the unique features of each facility, what the agency would lose by a closure at that location, how closure would impact the community and whether a specific community has the resources to support an increase in the number of youth and employees at a specific facility.Ironically, if HB 1915 passes the TYC board may not exist by their June 1 meeting, so I'm now sure how all that will be reconciled. In any event, these next few months will be another turbulent, uncertain period for state juvenile justice agencies. Wednesday's hearing will finally pull back the curtain on important discussions that until now for the most part have been happening entirely behind the scenes.
These meetings will probably take place on Saturdays, and I will be there with additional staff and at least one board member to hear the presentations. For those unable to attend, we will establish other avenues for you to communicate your thoughts and concerns. I anticipate that the TYC Board will then consider staff recommendations on which facilities to close at their June 2011 meeting. The closures would be scheduled to take place no later than September 1, 2011.
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27 comments:
Why go through public hearings? TYC administration knows which institutions need to close. They just need someone with the balls to pull the trigger. Dog and pony shows will be of no significance in decision making, other than making these communities feel good about themselves.
I may have missed it. Would the new agency allow employees to be state employees or county employees. Retirement is different. One has rule of 75, the other is rule of 80.
The new plans will eliminate retirement as we know it. 401's will be the new direction. Many will be screwed under this plan, but its better than what some will end with.
so if 401's are the new direction, will our current retirement money roll into that or will they freeze that money. I currently have a 401 but a while back when the market plunged, I lost a good bit. I surely would be pissed if I lost of good bit of the money that I have in retirement now. Since it is 15 years worth
1:22, I'm in the same place. One reason I've stayed with the state is that rule of 80. I can retire when I'm 55! With full insurance. I guess that is all about to change.
The new TJJD would not become until September 1, 2012. So the board will be around June 2011 to make the decisions on what facilities to close.
Why go through public hearings, exactly!! The previous closures were not afforded that privilege. A waste of time and tax payer money.
Your money may be safer out of control of either of the coming bad situations. May be time to grab what is left and go, because the system will not look out for your benefit. Sorry, but true. How many of us and our friends have already been scewered and burned by TYC and the state.
I am actually glad to see this bill. I have always thought if an agency could treat its employees as badly as I experienced 3.5 years ago when I was riffed, how could it possibly do good for the youth that it served or serves. It seems to me that there is a lack of morals in the business structure of TYC. I read multiple negative posts here at grits which I think are the result of the lack of ethics and morals present with the TYC command structure. I felt as if I were shipped to a leper colony and I have not really had any meaningful contact with those "non lepers" that shipped me there and apparently remain. My personal treatment was IMO cruel and unusual so I would not expect that they are capable of anything less than that. I actually hope for a better and new agency, with new personnel, and an greater vision for helping our troubled youth. BTW. I thought Resocialization was a the best program I have ever seen. The problem was in the implementation of the progam, not the ideals behind it. I think it helped young people change. Too bad the staff that I knew do not seem to practice the values component that was part of that program. I think my concerns are legitimate because I am a product and cast off of TYC as well.
Why of course they should close evins first.What a turd floater that place is. Save our taxes and quit wasting another penny in that sh#&*t hole.
How do you select pieces of crap from a agency full of shi.t? The entire ass-pot should be closed. Flush what remains then burn any signs of disease that survive from the agency of state trash.
Vile statements influence no one.
You have a small mind. You responded. You were influenced. Joke is on you, twit.
The juvenile justice problem will not be fixed until John Whitmire and Rick Perry are voted out of office. Whitmire just wants to funnel all the money to his constituancy's district, and Perry wants to give all his buddies jobs, whether they are qualified, or even sane.
In case you didn't notice...Perry was just voted in again...for years...go suck somewhere else.
I totally agree that Perry and
8:09
Whitmire's influence on juvenile justice is too significant for there to be any real progress while they are in power. And yes I am WELL aware that they just got voted in again for years and how Texans must be complete idiots. As for me, I plan to stay here to try to decrease the idiot percentage.
So suck on your own self in Texas or somewhere else, I don't care, just do something to keep your mouth shut (or full for that matter).
I think TYC needs major changes but I don't see that this plan will make things any better. Things are only going to get worse. What is the point of closing institutions if you are only going to overcrowd the remaining ones. This is a faulty plan that will have dire consequences.
Look out TYC and get out if you can!!!
Anyone with any common sense left TYC during the past three years. The hold-oners, losers,suck-ups, and TYC die hards are still there and continue to contaminate and kill anything of value. Flush the pot. Fire them all and start clean. Even babies need a cleansing.
SB 103 created mandates to try and reform TYC. Since TYC will no longer exist, the Senate won't have to fund their mandates. What everyone thinks were done to the kids in Pyote is being done to the counties.
A merged agency will mirror what is going on in the adult system. There will still be two completely separate parts of the juvenile justice system managed(but not completely funded) by one entity. The state will still need to do what they were suppose to do years ago. Fix the back end. Good luck to all.
With the amount of juveniles left in TYC, there is no merit to the over crowding of facilities if the three are shutdown. Two or three facilities could hold all the juveniles.
It will still be a state agency, just like both are now. Retirement will be with ERS, just like now. County employees will still be county employees.
Whatever facilities are closed; it will be Gods will. God Bless. In God we trust.
It will Be "Gods" will? You obviously have not watched Texas government operate! But I'm sure Whitmire is flattered by the comparison, but he even he knows once he leaves Austin he's just a mere mortal!
Cocky yes! Godly...not so much!
A true Texas Hero. Good for TYC.
What are you talking about, two or three could hold them all? You sound like Whitmire and his idiotic Austin Middle School comparison. You clearly do not have a clue and do not have a memory. Many of the problems identified with TYC four years ago were LARGE POPULATIONS AT INSTITUTIONS and HOUSING OF MIXED POPULATIONS (violent with nonviolent, sex offender with non sex offender, younger with older). Don't you remember? Populations will instantly go up at all facilities and institutions will instantly be too large to try to build a positive culture. Mix in the kids who will think that "abolishing" TYC will mean that they will get to go home without having to complete treatment and.... you are going to have hell on your hands. I feel sorry for those who are dedicated to working with the TYC population. They are going to get screwed from all sides. And no, not everyone left there are dregs of society. You have hundreds of dedicated, professional staff who have been pushed around like Mexican jumping beans over the past four years. It is so very sad what Texas is going to do to the juvenile justice system this legislative session.
Bout' time.
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