OPEA

7 comments (Add your own)

1. Gail wrote:

So governor and legislature, how much pain is the Department of Education going to feel?

Thu, March 18, 2010 @ 2:50 PM

2. Anti Legislature wrote:

The bigger question is how much pain the remaining OJA employees are going to feel? Now why are they doing this just after annoucing a 150 bed acadamy school and 16 bed transitional living program in clinton.sounds like we need to vote the republicans out of office, since the democrat senators and representatives have told me that we can't do anything because the republicans control everything. The republicans are downsizing the size of state governement.

Thu, March 18, 2010 @ 4:03 PM

3. Jack wrote:

Lets get rid of state employees and contract for the following services. make sense

Oklahoma Juvenile agency seeks site for school
Proposed charter academy would help troubled youth transition into an educational setting
BY VALLERY BROWN | Oklahoman 3 Comments
Published: March 15, 2010


Office of Juvenile Affairs Executive Director Gene Christian informed about 50 employees at the L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs last week they could lose their jobs by summer.



Gene Christian, executive director Oklahoma Juvenile Affairs, in Oklahoma City Thursday, August 17, 2006. By Josh Rabe

MultimediaVideoview all videosOffice of Juvenile Affairs

Mar 12Gene Christian explains what the Office of Juvenile Affairs does

Photoview all photos
More InfoJuveniles referred to the Office of Juvenile Affairs:

2009


• Total in detention or programs: 14,191


• First-time referrals: 8,629


• Detained for violent crimes: 1,477


• Gang members: 556


2008


• Total in detention or programs: 14,757


• First-time referrals: 9,076


• Detained for violent crimes: 1,561


• Gang members: 570

But despite approaching layoffs, furloughs and cuts to nearly every service provided by the department, Christian is still planning for a charter school academy for troubled youth.

"We have to start doing something different,” Christian said. "This economic climate is forcing us to come of age.”

Staffing reductions and budget constraints have reduced the number of residential beds available for juveniles referred to the department. By July, Christian said he will be able to accommodate about half the juveniles that were housed in 2000, taking the total number of beds to about 550. Fewer than half of those are at secure places like the L.E. Rader Center.

Although the number of juveniles entering the system has declined in the past several years, the number placed in custody in 2009 increased by 2.5 percent from 2008.

The department is legislatively mandated to provide secure institutions for violent delinquents and youthful offenders.

With the charter school academy, the plan is to immerse youths transitioning out of the system into an educational setting where they would be better equipped to enter college, career-tech programs or go into the work force, Christian said. The academy would accommodate about 150 youths.

Details of the plan still need to be worked out, but Christian said he’s been in contact with officials in a few communities that are interested.

"We have to be somewhere we’re wanted,” he said. "We need a community behind us.”

One school being looked at as an example is Rite of Passage in Denver. The academy provides educational programs to youths 11 to 20 years old who are referred to the school through juvenile courts and child welfare services.

Ski Broman, chief executive for Rite of Passage, said the program focuses on developing strengths and goals to help youths transition back into life out of detention.

"Typical facilities focus on custody and control. It’s all about risk reduction,” Broman said.

Rite of Passage programs are evidence-based ways of assessing juveniles’ strengths and risks and prescribing treatments and goals.

Juveniles, even the most violent offenders, are able to learn skills for life outside of the center, Broman said.


Other plans
Still in the works is a group home in a former Butler school in Custer County, northwest of Clinton. The school was donated to Southwestern Oklahoma State University and will be used as a reintegration home for about 16 juveniles.
That project is nearly complete, but it’s not clear how it will be opened and operated with current budget conditions, Christian said.

Plans are also still under way for a new high-security institution. Design, function and legal problems at the L.E. Rader Center have made the cost of operating it nearly 25 percent higher per youth than the two other secure centers in the state. The Central Oklahoma Juvenile Detention Center in Tecumseh and the Southwest Oklahoma Juvenile Detention Center in Manitou are considered medium security institutions and are able to house serious and violent offenders.

A new high-security center could cost as much as $30 million to build. City officials in Clinton have expressed interest in the project.

Thu, March 18, 2010 @ 4:09 PM

4. Dido wrote:

Dont get me wrong,i appreciate our states teachers who are dedicated to teaching but the education department has received raises over the last three years while every other agency has to deal with cuts and furloghs and riff's.WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE??

Fri, March 19, 2010 @ 8:16 AM

5. State Employee wrote:

This would be a really good time for OPEA to highlight the fact that the biggest increase in State Employees came from our colleges and OU Health Sciences Centers. My friend has worked for OU Health Sciences for 2 years now and has received 3 raises. Meanwhile, I have worked for the State for the last 8 years and haven't received anything. She makes way more than me and has since her first raise.
I don't understand why OPEA doesn't play a little hardball to protect us. Is seems to me, OPEA acts soo grateful when anybody in the Legislature even agrees to a meeting. Why aren't they going to the TV stations and highlighting our situation? We are number 50 in the nation in regards to pay. Time for OPEA to quit groveling and start playing hard ball!

Sun, March 21, 2010 @ 11:26 AM

6. Close the borders to Oklahoma wrote:

Oklahoma law-makers should send notices to all the other states that Oklahoma is "out of business". With closing all the 24 hour care facilities providing services to children, adolescents, Children with special needs, the aged, the mentally ill, those who need help with prenatal care other services from the State Health Department such as emergency mgt. services and emergency prepardness this state needs to declare it out of business and re-route the travelers and people looking to move to the Great State because Gov. Henry, Sen. Coffee and Rep. Benge along with their counterparts have efficiently shut down the services. Oh no, I did forget to mention that all the above agencies have kept their Central Office and upper managment staff in place.

Sun, March 21, 2010 @ 12:07 PM

7. State Employee wrote:

Our agency (not OJA) was told this week that we would be getting furloughed in June as well.

Tue, March 23, 2010 @ 9:11 PM

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