Juvenile Justice in California: Facts & IssuesThe main function of schools in the prevention of delinquency is to teach students what they need to learn to play constructive roles in society. This includes programs for students with special learning problems. Students experience greater success if they are given the additional support they need to learn, attend school regularly and stay until graduation. They receive this support when school staff:
Some schools in California have developed school-based programs
to help students, their parents and siblings. Others work closely
in inter-agency collaborations. The State Department of Education
has several programs which contain many of the elements necessary
to be effective.
SB 65 School-Based Pupil Motivation and Maintenance (M&M) Program
The School-Based Pupil Motivation and Maintenance (M&M) Program was enacted into law in 1985 to create a more successful
school experience for children at great risk of not completing
school. Fifty K-12 clusters were created, consisting of four schools
each. State funds paid for an Outreach Consultant at each school
to coordinate the program at that school site. The Consultant
helps identify the at-risk students and coordinates the resources
of the school and the community to address their needs. The schools
must use the identification and intervention efforts of a Student
Study Team (SST) process, similar to that used for special education
students, and must include the parent and student in the decision
making process. The schools must also have a School Site Council,
made up of school employees, parents and members of the community
who develop a plan for the school and continually review it.
The schools in the M&M Program are covered by the School-Based Coordinated Programs, which provides greater flexibility for schools to better coordinate all the categorical programs. <32> After three years, an evaluation found that programs were successful where the school administrator strongly supported the work of the Outreach Consultant and the Student Study Team process, and respected and included the support of parents and the community. <33>
Prevention of Violence and Delinquency
The California Commission on Teaching Credentialing Advisory Panel on School Violence found that schools alone cannot make a lasting impact on reducing violence in California schools. Schools are part of the greater society and they reflect the values and behaviors common to the local community. Schools must seek assistance because of the increasing problems, differences, and circumstances students bring to school, e.g. cultural, ethnic, racial, developmental, and/or behavior patterns and lifestyles. Everyone must be involved in addressing these issues. Teachers, students, administrators, and school support personnel must connect with parents, health and human service providers, law enforcement, and other community groups in order to create a safe environment where students can learn and educators can educate. Dedication and resolve will be required to make safe schools a reality in the 1990s. <34> The Little Hoover Commission also found that schools can help by providing conflict resolution and violence prevention curriculums, peer mediation, peer counseling and opportunities for students to succeed and feel good about themselves. <35>
Teacher Referral of At-Risk Children
Teachers are often the first to identify children with problems,who
are observed to have behavior problems, or are withdrawn. While
they often do what they can to intervene, they may not have the
resources to know what help for the children and their families
is available or the time to make the referrals. Access to a school-based
social worker eases the transaction and encourages teachers to
make referrals. The social worker can then make the links to needed
services.
Truancy Prevention
Truancy, as has been noted elsewhere, is a common characteristic
of delinquent youth and often predates the delinquency. Schools
are the first to know about absences and need to notify parents.
Early intervention by the school and the family working together
can often solve school- or family-based problems. Sometimes students
stay away because they are falling behind in their academic work,
so tutoring may be needed. Mentoring or peer counseling can help
with personal and social problems. Referral to a youth-serving
agency or family counseling program may be necessary.
School Attendance Review Board (SARB)
In 1974, the California Legislature established School Attendance Review Boards, which are appointed by local school boards, and have certain legal powers to encourage school attendance. Local SARBs may be composed of parents, representatives from the school district, and law enforcement, probation, mental health, youth service agencies and the local district attorney's office. If used as intended by the Legislature, SARBs should involve families and youths in selecting the services and resources available in the community and solving school attendance problems. SARB's can exchange confidential information between the member agencies and facilitate collaboration among them. A SARB may file a complaint with the district attorney's office if a family fails to follow a SARB directive. <36>
Effective January 1, 1995, the Legislature amended and enacted
new sections of the Welfare and Institutions (W&I), Education
and the Vehicle Codes to enforce school attendance. Formerly,
police officers could pick up juveniles on the street during school
hours and return them to school. Now, if the jurisdiction has
passed a daytime loitering ordinance, the police officers can
issue truants notices to appear in juvenile traffic court. There
the truants can be fined, be required to do community work or
can have their driver's license delayed, suspended or revoked.
Los Angeles, Monrovia, and several towns in San Bernadino have
instituted programs using these new powers.
Gun Abuse Prevention Programs
There are several programs which provide curricula to teachers
to teach about guns. They include: the STAR curriculum that teaches
about gun safety, the NRA gun safety program, and Teens on Target,
an Oakland and Los Angeles program, where trained teenagers visit
schools at all levels and talk with the students, using a curriculum
that they have developed themselves.
Educational Services for Expelled Students
As of January 1, 1996, the principal or superintendent must immediately suspend and the governing board expel students who:
There are no mitigating circumstances. The expulsion must last a full school year.
The principal or superintendent must recommend expulsion for the following offenses:
The board then may order expulsion only if: 1) other means of
correcting the student's behavior are unfeasible or have repeatedly
failed: or 2) the student's presence causes a continuing danger
to the physical safety of the student and others. Students may
be required to perform community service in lieu of suspension
or expulsion.
As of July 1, 1996, school districts must ensure that an educational program is provided for all expelled students. Each county superintendent who operates community schools together with the superintendents of the school districts within the county must develop a plan for providing education services to all expelled students in the county and submit it to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction by June 30, 1997. If school districts develop community day schools, they should have low student-teacher ratios, individualized instruction and assessment and maximum collaboration with school district support service resources. The school day must be at least 360 minutes and students may be required to attend 7 days a week. The Legislature provided incentive funding for community day schools to offset costs of operating the longer school day and providing support services. <37>
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