(DISCUSSION) Report from T. Diestel on programming in Juvenile Hall
T. Diestel said generally the transition has put restrictions on their operations. Now all programming is unit specific. If they cannot blend units together for a single program, they have to have the programs in each separate unit. This goes from the school program, to the spirit life program, to all other activities.
They have a gender specific programming for girls. Music therapy, a writing workshop, Queen’s Bench, SAGE. They have a lot of girls specific programs. They have a mentor visiting program, which provides adults to come visit with youth who do not have visitors during visit hours.
Comm. Richard asked to have this at the Ranch. Maybe through the Spirit Life program. He offered to contact the churches in SF to see if they could take this up.
The JH library is on book carts. Warner Bros. Donated 200 PG-rated DVDs for use in the hall.
Omega Boys Club, and the Beat Within, still continue. There is an API support program. St. Peter’s Church provides Spanish-speaking youth with spiritual services. Project Imagine, with Rec&Park, come up. Each One Reach One is a theater arts program. and they have a drummer that comes up.
Diestel further mentioned that the school program is a part of the regular district operations, and the curriculum parallels that of other high schools.
Comm Richard had a concern that youth leaving JH, after an extended stay, were not able to get their credits earned while in JH. J. Fithian explained how they were calculating credits now (which they didn’t do in the past). But he thinks the practice has been that it is only calculated and given to the SFUSD when someone requests it. He suggested making it practice to just calculate everyone’s credits upon leaving the hall, and sent to the district for inclusion in the student’s record.
Fithian said that it was the responsibility of the counselor in the receiving school to gather all the academic records of the student.
Comm Richard asked whether a meeting needs to be had with Superintendent Ackerman to resolve this.
Fithian said that there should be an MOU between the SFUSD and the Dept, which lays out clearly all these issues and how they will be dealt with. He said that Title XV said that it is supposed to be there, but he’s never seen it. He suggested getting to Frank Tom about this.
(public comments)
there was none.
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