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State Funding for Local Truancy Officers Now Available

West Virginia’s 55 schools districts can now apply for state funding to help combat excessive absences in public schools.

The West Virginia Department of Education is accepting applications from county boards of education for funding to hire a local truancy diversion specialist.

Those county level specialists will work directly with students who have the highest number of absences, providing them individual attention to get them back in the classroom.

Diversion specialists will coordinate efforts between parents, schools and the court system to re-direct at risk youth.

The Truancy Diversion Initiative is part of Governor Tomblin’s Juvenile Justice Reform Task Force compiled in the summer of 2014.

That task force recommended the state Legislature provide the funding for county level truancy specialists to help combat the issue statewide and raise achievement and graduation rates.

Officials Discuss Juvenile Justice Reform

State officials joined with members of the juvenile justice community in Huntington Thursday to examine Senate Bill 393.

Senate Bill 393 which reforms the state’s Juvenile Justice system was signed into law on April 2^nd. One of the many objectives is to reduce the number of status offenders, those who are charged with an offense that would not be a crime if committed by an adult. Much those offenses have to do with running away from home or what occurs often in West Virginia, being truant from school.

The reforms are expected to reduce the costs to the state that are incurred when kids are housed in residential homes or juvenile facilities – sometimes out of region, sometimes out of state.. The goal is to keep juveniles at home – and treated locally. It’s estimated this could save as much as $20 million that could be reinvested into community services. It’s those services, said Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and others, that can better help the kids.

“So basically we’ll have interveners in each of the counties now, because of the law passed that basically says when a student starts to be tardy or truant we can get to that child and work with them and their family and give them the kind of help they need in their communities and keep them out of the custody of the state,” Tomblin said.

Those interveners or counselors that Tomblin speaks of in each county will serve much in the same way as Cabell County School based probation officer Nikita Jackson. Jackson is a member of the West Virginia Intergovernmental Task Force that worked on Senate Bill 393. She’s there for students that need that extra guidance. When kids are repeatedly truant, Jackson gets involved with the entire family.

“Our main concern is to get them through school and graduate and if you’re not in school and missing school then you’re not going to get an education so that’s my job, to make sure they’re getting to school and getting the education they need to be able to advance in life,” Jackson said.

The state hopes to have the program up and running this fall.

State Board of Education Holds Emergency Meeting Over Common Core Repeal

At the legislature today, the senate passes the Governor’s bill to reform the state’s juvenile justice system. Senators from both sides of the aisle praise the bill they say will mend troubled kids and their families. A public hearing this morning brings out the issue of discrimination against the LGBT community in West Virginia. And the State Board of Education held an emergency meeting Friday to discuss a bill they say could cause substantial harm to students, teachers, and school systems in the state. We’ll find out more on The Legislature Today.

Reducing Truancy Top Concern of Juvenile Justice Study

Governor Tomblin’s Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice released its final report Thursday which includes some 20 recommendations on how to reduce the state’s incarcerated youth population. The report focuses heavily on preventative measures to deal with status offenders, or juveniles who commit offenses that would not be considered crimes for an adult.

Tomblin said at the press conference implementation of the recommendations could reduce the population of incarcerated juveniles by at least 40 percent by the year 2020 with a project cost savings of $59 million.

One way the group suggests the state could realize those savings is by requiring each county have a probation officer or social worker assigned to work with truancy cases within the schools.

Gov. Tomblin announced the recommendations Thursday.

Those officers are estimated to cost around $60,000 a year, but would be a significant savings compared to the estimated $100,000 per bed per day cost of youth incarceration.

“What we’re attempting to do is wherever possible head that off. Let’s give them the services they need in their communities and hopefully save those millions of dollars,” Tomblin said Thursday.

Jennifer Meinig, Executive Director of the West Virginia ACLU, applauded the governor for his efforts, but said the report doesn’t go far enough when it comes to reducing the number of truant students in the state.

State statute requires any student in West Virginia who receives five unexcused absences in a school year be referred to the court system, but before 2010, Meinig said that number was 10 absences. By the current standard, Meinig said one in three students in the state is truant.

She said her group will work to lobby lawmakers during the upcoming session to change the threshold back to ten absences helping to reduce the number of juveniles who come before a judge.

Tomblin said Thursday he’s not worried about working with the state’s new Republican legislative leaders to get some of the initiatives passed during the upcoming legislative session.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael attended the press conference Thursday and said he looks forward to working with the governor to advance legislation that will help ensure the success of West Virginia families.

Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform Meets for First Time

Governor Tomblin’s task force working to reform the state’s juvenile justice system met for the first time in Charleston today. The group of some 30 members is tasked with presenting legislative recommendations before the end of the year.

The task force is made up of people with various backgrounds incorporating all three branches of government.

It’s been about a year and a half since the legislature passed Tomblin’s justice reinvestment act, which so far has reduced the state’s adult prison population by 5 percent and saved about 16 million dollars.

Now, Tomblin is asking a new task force to take on the juvenile system, focusing on reducing the population and treating kids in their neighborhoods rather than locked away in institutions.

“What we’re hoping to do, first of all, prevent the infractions of law that our juveniles are committing and if they’re already in the system, try to get them back on track as far as education goes and make them productive members,” said Tomblin.

The task force will meet several times over the coming months with the goal of having recommendations ready by December 1.

West Virginia Partners with Pew for Study of Juvenile Justice System

Recently, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has been touting the successes of last year’s Justice Reinvestment Act in reducing prison and jail populations, as well as reducing the recidivism rate for prior offenders. While those initiatives have proved successful for adults, problems remain in the juvenile justice system.

On Wednesday, Tomblin and other state officials announced a partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts in hopes to better understand some of those issues and make improvements.

“Between 1997 and 2011, West Virginia experienced the largest increase in youths confined to juvenile facilities of any state in the country and was one of only four states in the United States to increase commitment rates even as other states were able to reduce both juvenile crime and commitments,” Tomblin said of the issues faced by the state’s juvenile justice system.

A 2013 study from Pew shows West Virginia saw a 94% increase in juvenile commitment during the 15-year period Tomblin mentioned, ranking the state worst in the country during those years. In 2011, the state housed 327 juvenile offenders, up from 192 in 1997.

Despite the state closing the Youth Industrial Home in Salem last year after a lawsuit and criticism over it’s ineffectiveness on rehabilitation, Tomblin pointed to the results of that closure as providing better opportunities for young offenders.

“Young people once housed at Salem were transferred to our juvenile centers where they are receiving better educational opportunities in an environment that better promotes rehabilitation,” said Tomblin.

In hopes to improve further, state officials are teaming up with the Pew Charitable Trusts to comprehensively study the juvenile justice system. The goal, Tomblin said, is to implement research driven methods to help shape policy that keeps young people out of trouble while saving taxpayer money.

As part of the study, Pew will evaluate programs from the Division of Juvenile Services, the Department of Health and Human Resources, and the state Department of Education. They will also examine demographics of youth offenders and what crimes are being committed.

“This is about achieving more public safety, this is about improving outcomes for kids, and it’s about enhancing accountability,” said Pew state policy director Jake Horowitz. “It’s about doing all of those things while curtailing the taxpayer burdens of the corrections system.”

House Speaker Tim Miley was among the lawmakers, Supreme Court Justices, and other officials that joined Governor Tomblin for Wednesday’s announcement.

“Whenever we as a legislative body or as individual members–or at the governor’s office, for that matter–tackle anything within the criminal justice system, there’s always concern that that means we’re going to be more lenient,” said Miley. “That’s not necessarily what this study is going to reveal to us.”

Miley echoed Gov. Tomblin and other state officials in emphasizing rehabilitation rather than incarceration and providing opportunities for young people to be contributing members of society.

“We always lose sight of the fact that there is life after punishment. Obviously, community safety is paramount,” Miley explained. “But, if we’re going to put people in our criminal justice system with an expectation of leaving that system, we have to be prepared for life after punishment.”

Tomblin said an Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare will soon be created to review data trends, evaluate the programs for juvenile delinquents, and make policy recommendations for future legislation.

Pew’s study is expected to be complete by December, allowing lawmakers time to examine the findings in time for the next regular session of the legislature, which begins in January.