Superintendent, excuse me, since I asked the question? Would you let Assistant Principal Florence Johnson know that. Because she is concerned that that program is being eliminated. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: Well, actually, the only way it would be eliminated is if she eliminated it. Because I have made a commitment that we are not going to do anymore cuts at the school level. That's the Mayor's commitment, at least last year it was your all, and I am hoping it will be again this year. It is certainly mine. And the money is placed at the school level, and decisions get made at that point by the Principal and the Assistant Principal. And that's the reason that, given her 117 RESOLUTION 970703 confidence in the program, I am confident that it won't be cut. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: The best weapon against truancy is a good education, a good learning environment in the school. SUPERINTENDENT HORNBECK: That's absolutely true, Mr. Councilman. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Superintendent. Go ahead, Councilman. Judge Panepinto.
The requirement to attend school, the state requirement, I believe, is up to years of age. 16 Traditionally, I have known home and school visitors in the past, that they would count the days until when the kid would become 16 so they could take them out of their book and do something with them, I don't know. The problem is that, as you know, a lot of our juvenile delinquency problems happen at the ages of 16, 17, and 18, or prior to their emancipation. That whole group of children fall 118 RESOLUTION 970703 through the system, and until they become adults and do some crime are not back into the system. And that, from my anecdotal experience, are the groups that are out on the corners causing the problems and the vandalism and the chaos. And the courts have no jurisdiction over them because they are 17. The schools can't make them go to school. The parents have no control at this point. What do we do? And I don't expect you to come up with every answer right now. But how do we deal with that group that's no longer under Juvenile Court supervision, should be really in school because they are not educated yet and haven't graduated or won't graduate, and are out in the neighborhoods doing what they shouldn't be doing? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, we are seeing an increased number of more youthful violent offenders. So what we are hoping to do, and even with this program, if we are addressing it in the context of truancy, is to get out there and find those kids that are truant and try to address the 119 RESOLUTION 970703 problem early on. If they are not going to school, we can bring them in, we can get after them a little sooner, and we can probably scratch the surface, at least with these programs, of trying to find out where they are, when we are out there more in the community. And that's the whole purpose of this, is to get back into the community. The violent offender, we are going to get them through a delinquent petition. I mean, they are going to come directly that way. We find out that they are out of schools 100 days when we get them there. But what we are hoping by this program with truancy, is to get into the community, into the schools, we are trying to be a little more proactive in that regard, so that we can get to the problems earlier. And I don't know how we are going to cure the kids that are violent. We are not probably going to even find them. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: I am glad that you are saying that -- I like the name of your program, Stop Truancy And Recommend Treatment. Because we 120 RESOLUTION 970703 cannot just keep on building the amount of jail cells that are there. So if we can really get to those individuals that are in truancy and recommend the right programs and establish the right programs in the school system, and be able through the courts to be able to bring those in, I don't think we are going to succeed with the 15,000 kids that are out every day, but I think you are going to get a hell of a lot more that are not going to go into the prison system. JUDGE PANEPINTO: The courts are not prosecutors. What we are doing is participating with the School District, and sitting out there, and they can bring us the problem cases, and then we can weed through those and try to help and work them out. The ones we can't, we may be issuing Bench Warrants. Maybe we will find some of these kids.
My question was, the 17-year-old is not going to get before your Master or before you as a Judge in the court, 121 RESOLUTION 970703 because there is no longer a state requirement beyond the age of to go to school. 4 And then they are still in the 5 juvenile system because they are not 18. So what 6 happens to that? 7 JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, they are 8 juveniles, but they are not in the system. 9
They are nowhere, 10 until they do a crime serious enough to get them 11 into the criminal court system. 12 So I guess, how do we think about 13 that -- and what happens is, the closer they get to 14 16, the less likely it is that the School District 15 or the courts are going to even begin to care about 16 them anymore. Obviously our resources are finite. And you would be better off dealing with a 13-year-old who is beginning to become truant, as opposed to a 16-year-old who has been truant for ten years. But what happens to those 16- and 17-year-olds if we are not dealing with them at all? JUDGE PANEPINTO: Well, frankly, as I 122 RESOLUTION 970703 tried to say, I don't think we are going to solve all of the problems with this small program. But it is a start, and it is something I believe is innovative. And the School District being cooperative with DHS, we are stressing the early intervention and the younger person. As I said, we are seeing more violent younger people, too. And maybe if we can get them back into school, get them an education, they will see the light a little earlier.
Just one final question. Will your Masters have the ability, and do Judges have the ability, to require drug testing for individual truant youth who are before them who not more than likely, but maybe a strong possibility, that the truancy and the misbehavior issues are associated with drug abuse at an age of 14 and 15? And would it not be -- and I know the answer to this question -- would it not be better to intervene in this child's life now with appropriate treatment and counseling, as opposed to putting him on a bus to CFCF when he is 22? 123 RESOLUTION 970703 JUDGE PANEPINTO: The answer is, yes, we can refer for drug testing and we can mandate it.
The question is, can we mandate it based on the information, the counselor says, "Look, Your Honor, Master" -- I don't know how you refer to a Master in a courtroom setting; Your Honor, I guess -- is that, "We have had ongoing problems with this child. He has been on school premises getting high. You can smell it on the kid probably if you bring him in from the morning, it is probably still on his clothes," at that point in time shouldn't there be a requirement that a confidential drug test be given so that we can do the intervention that's necessary now? JUDGE PANEPINTO: We would refer them and ask them to go. And if they don't want to go, we can mandate it at some point.
Nobody is going to want to go, especially if you are getting high. JUDGE PANEPINTO: We see the problem sometimes right there in the courtroom. I have been in the courtroom, I saw he looked glassy-eyed. I know he has a problem. He is not even convicted yet, but we 124 RESOLUTION 970703 refer him to go as a condition pretrial to drug testing. And if he says he doesn't want to go, eventually we are going to order him and hold him in contempt. I think we are going to be doing that. We are going to be seeing that. But we need the resources. That's going to be one of the things we hope Council is going to be cooperative and try and help with those resources.
With all due respect, the resources necessary to pay for a drug test is a lot cheaper, a lot cheaper, than CFCF, and I know you know that. JUDGE PANEPINTO: I know.
What I don't want to get into -- and the Councilmember is not here, but I know what she might say to that suggestion -- and that is that we don't maybe have a right to look into that child's blood stream or urinary tract because of their civil rights. But, again, I think it is a better idea to do it now, than to do it later. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: I think what the 125 RESOLUTION 970703 Judge -- and that's why the Judge named the program Stop Truancy And Recommend Treatment. And I think if we go towards that type of vision, we will have less people filling up the prison cells and more people getting some direction. And Commissioner Neal and Maxine and Mike, go ahead. COMMISSIONER ESTELLE RICHMAN: My name is Estelle Richman, and I am the Health Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia. Effective as of Monday, January 26, there is an involuntary commitment for substance-abusive children. And the state has not done all the regs. We are working with them. But at this point substance abuse has never been attached to a commitment law. Act 53 became active on Monday, January 26. So that there is now an ability to treat children involuntarily. Because they don't say, "Here I am. Treat me for substance abuse." Sometimes they do. I don't want to overstate it. But, indeed, it gives us now an opportunity to begin to treat youngsters that have 126 RESOLUTION 970703 substance abuse problems that up to this point there hasn't been a way to get them into treatment. Unfortunately, the state, while passing this law, didn't put money in it. So we are working very actively with the state right now to be able to figure out how we can implement this, how we can use it, and how we can pay for it.
Let me just say finally, every corner I have cleared, every group I have moved, every time I have called the police, at any high school or middle school that I have been around, all of them are using drugs, all of them. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Judge Panepinto.
Judge Panepinto, I just wanted to thank you. And I think the Truancy Court in the clusters is a very good idea. I assume the Masters, could they at least wear a choir robe, so that people might think they are a Judge? But, also, I am also familiar with the REP program. And I know Miss Gellin is here. And that you have been working on that a long time, 127 RESOLUTION 970703 and I think that is also a very good prevention measure. JUDGE PANEPINTO: We have been doing our best and will be cooperative in every way we can. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Judge. And keep up the bringing up of the right titles for some programs. It is very good. You know, it is a beginning. Because if we begin to put the mentality out there that a lot of these kids need treatment, and we are beginning to look at the problem in terms of looking at solutions and the systems, and then go for the cure, then I think it is better than the final solution that we might be able to get down the road. JUDGE PANEPINTO: I wanted to say in reference to what the Commissioner mentioned on this involuntary commitment, we have already proceeded in Family Court to prepare the necessary forms for the parents of kids that come in to file them. We already have displaced personnel and some agencies to work with us in assessments for these kids that have the drug problem and the drug 128 RESOLUTION 970703 testing. We are really ready to go. And I am really proud, because Philadelphia has taken the lead in that area, too, in terms of preparing for when these cases come before the Court. And I am a member of the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission statewide. And the last meeting I attended, all the other counties in Pennsylvania haven't figured out how to do this or implement the law if anyone comes to call on their door about a problem for a kid, but we are ready to go. All we need is the actual Petition or Complaint to start the problem-solving. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. Estelle, Commissioner Neal, Mike DiBerardinis, Maxine Tucker, could you guys decide among yourselves. Whoever has the more constraints of time should go first. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good afternoon, members of City Council. My name is Estelle Richman. I am the Commissioner of Health for the City of Philadelphia, Department of Public Health. 129 RESOLUTION 970703 I appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you today about the effect of truancy on public health, particularly in the area of youth violence. As I testified in December 1997, many young people in Philadelphia are dying preventable deaths, even more involved in acts of violence that do not, at least at that time, result in death. In order to implement effective preventive strategies for other children, the Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Youth Fatality Review Team routinely and systematically reviews the death of all Philadelphia residents under age 22. Its mission is to prevent future child deaths and related violence by review, analysis, and subsequent initiation of corrective actions. The School District is represented on the team. And one of the important factors the team examines is a youth school record, including truancy, as a potential indicator of involvement in violence. per 100,000. percent of those deaths were 6 due to injuries. 3 percent were suicides. 1 11 percent, of the youth homicide victims had school 12 problems in the year before their deaths. 7 percent, had 14 been truant. 4 percent, had 15 dropped out of school before death. 16 Other school problems included having 17 been left back a grade, discipline problems, special 18 education classes, and changing schools often. 19 These data indicate that many of the 20 youth who were killed were already showing risk 21 factors while in school. 6 percent of youth suicide victims had school problems. m. As a result of the discussions of the 131 RESOLUTION 970703 Child Fatality Review Team, several recommendations had been made to reduce the number of preventable deaths.
The first recommendation the Youth Homicide Subcommittee has made is to determine which young people are truant from school or are showing other high-risk behaviors and develop a plan to provide appropriate services. Truancy in school-related problems are not only linked to youth violence, but to other public health problems, as well. Healthy People 2000: Objectives For The Nation, has a health objective to increase the high school graduation rate to at least 90 percent, thereby reducing risks for multiple-problem behaviors and poor mental and physical health. Truancy is a predictor of eventually dropping out of school. Dropping out of school is associated with later unemployment, poverty, and poor health. During adolescence, dropping out of school is associated with multiple social and health problems, including substance abuse, delinquency, intentional and unintentional injury, and unintended 132 RESOLUTION 970703 pregnancy. Some researchers suggest that the antecedents of these problems can be identified in the early elementary grades, long before the actual problems are evident. These include low academic achievement and low attachment to school, as well as early acting out or aggressive behavior in schools. Children who perform poorly in school are more than a year behind their grade, are chronically truant, and are more likely to exhibit risk behaviors and experience serious problems in adolescence. By addressing high school dropout rates and truancy as a related and antecedent problem, it may be possible to reduce unwarranted risks of behavior problems and improve the health of our young people. We are all too aware of the many negative effects of truancy on the health and social well-being of Philadelphia's youth in the citizenry as a whole. Reducing truancy would likely in return reduce youth violence, reduce crime, reduce 133 RESOLUTION 970703 drug and alcohol abuse, and improve the overall health of our community. I look forward to working with all of you in addressing this serious problem for the City of Philadelphia. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you very much. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER MAXINE TUCKER: I am just going to have a couple of comments, because I know Commissioner DiBerardinis and Commissioner Neal have much more details and information to be able to share. But I just wanted to certainly reconfirm the Department's participation in terms of a collaborative manner with regard to working with the other systems, in terms of trying to address the issue of truancy. Council lady, you had raised the question about the Truancy Prevention Committee. And it was the Department in 1994 who had initiated that committee, in pulling it together, in terms of trying to pull together the stakeholders in taking a look at what was going on with regard to truancy 134 RESOLUTION 970703 prevention and how the department, who gets probably anywhere from 250 to 300 referrals a year where it is just strictly truancy, and how to best work with the other systems around there. We are currently assessing whether or not that is still the appropriate and the best forum at this point, given the work that you will hear with regard to the Children and Families Cabinet, and that the School District, certainly, and the police are very much a part of that cabinet. And perhaps that is a better forum at this particular point. We continue to fund, and it was an outgrowth of bringing that committee together to try to see what some of the issues were, we continued to fund the REP programs. I think we have probably about four, at least four, maybe five agencies now through Family Court that we fund those services.
And the other step that we have taken is that we have looked at addressing truancy as a specific focus with regard to our Family Service Plan, and working with our private providers, as well as other community organizations, to see if we 135 RESOLUTION 970703 can effect for those children known to the department and active with the department at least a percent reduction in the number of kids who are in 5 that truancy population. So I just wanted to very briefly have the testimony with a little more detail, but just very briefly to identify what our attempts at some coordination and some collaborative partnership development is. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you. COMMISSIONER MICHAEL DiBERARDINIS: Our approach to this -- and I am speaking more as a member of the Mayor's Children and Families Cabinet, as opposed to Recreation Commissioner. I am the Chair of the Youth Violence Reduction Task Force of the Cabinet. And in that role, we have been working for the last two years to create a cooperative city approach to the issue of youth violence and handguns, and then to work with neighborhood organizations and neighborhood leadership, and institutions in those communities, to begin to implement a program on a neighborhood level that would have some measurable impact on the 136 RESOLUTION 970703 issues around youth violence. We have learned early on that truancy -- and we talked to hundreds and hundreds of people in the process of creating this approach to youth violence -- that truancy was a major concern that people had relative to the issue of youth violence and youth crime. We are currently working -- and I think Councilman Ortiz saw some of that today. We were up in North Philadelphia around some school safety issues. But the approach that the cabinet is taking is that unless -- we have to learn how to cooperate amongst ourselves in city government. But if we don't link up with the parents, the teachers, the youth organizations, the churches, and neighborhood groups in a particular community, our efforts will not be as effective. So the cabinet has been working very hard on creating service system reform within government, so the way we deliver our services is different to those communities relative to youth violence and truancy. And then to find a way, or to find 137 RESOLUTION 970703 formations in neighborhoods, that the government can really work day-to-day, student by student, family by family, with, with the support of those local individuals, organizations, and institutions. So this effort is not only taking place within the Children and Families Cabinet, but the William Penn Foundation has a very similar model being instituted and generated throughout the city, with grass roots organizations. And we are beginning to work very closely with them. And there are also efforts underway within the empowerment zones, which you heard Superintendent Hornbeck speak about, as well as some efforts being headed up by the United Way. So right now we are at the point where we are trying to foster more cooperation between the city departments. The Truancy Committee is one of them. We are examining other ways that we can build more collaborative efforts, be more strategic in the applications of those efforts, and be -- to try to elevate this whole issue of truancy to a higher level within the Cabinet, and begin to take on more broader and more focused approaches where we can really begin to see the impact. 138 RESOLUTION 970703 I will close by saying that I think that the -- having the Cabinet model is very important because all the key players, at least from the government side, are at the same table, looking at the same issues, from the highest level of leadership down to the actual practitioners in the neighborhoods. So we think that the model is there.
And we think that, as, again, the previous people who testified, that we have made some progress within the last year, and would expect that the cabinet will take this issue up in a more focused and concentrated way and expand what we are doing. COMMISSIONER RICHARD NEAL: Good afternoon, members of Council. You have my testimony, and I would just like to, in summary -- CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Identify yourself, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER NEAL: I am Commissioner Richard Neal, Philadelphia Police Department. You have my testimony. And I would just like to, in summary, say a couple of things. It is really pleasing to see the kind of collaboration that exists between the different 139 RESOLUTION 970703 agencies today. Because as has been stated, that far too long many of the agencies have been endeavoring to impact on this problem alone within their respective areas. And now, as a result of all of the agencies coming together, I think that we are beginning to see a more effective impact on the issue of truancy. As was stated or indicated in my testimony, that through the federal government, we have received a grant for a two-year period for $700,000 that has provided overtime to enable the police department to assign officers specifically to go out and address the issue of truancy in their respective communities. And we just recently received an additional $400,000, which is going to allow us to maintain that program until late 1999. Which is going to, again, ensure that the emphasis on this issue is consistent over an extended period of time. In our first year of this endeavor, we took back to the schools approximately 16,000 140 RESOLUTION 970703 kids. We anticipate that the second year will reveal that there are about 21,000 kids that have been returned to the school. As a result of the excellent working relationship that exists between the school and the police department, we have now been able to tap into the School Board's database. So that no longer do we just have to accept the information that's provided by an individual who has no identification, and states to us that he or she attends ABC school. Now we can immediately have, through our radio system, contact that school, get the information in terms of name, age, address, counselor, and all of the pertinent information, to ensure that that individual is providing us with the right information, and thereby make up the necessary paperwork that can be returned to the school, along with the individual, to ensure that some redress is brought to this problem. Also, one of the things that I had mentioned is the fact that we also have the ability to suspend the driving privileges of a young person if he or she has been convicted of being truant. 141 RESOLUTION 970703 And I think that this is perhaps an area in which we should exercise more attention to. Because by impacting on those driving privileges, again, is a way of ensuring that that young person has his or her priorities in the right perspective. Going back now to a Justice Department study that was done, where they looked at over 400 young kids. And one of the things that they found -- and these were all individuals who were juveniles -- and it said that 53 percent of that one group of juveniles that were arrested tested positive for drugs. And of that group, 67 percent of them did not attend school. And this is almost 16 percent higher than any of those who have stayed in 17 school. 18 So it clearly demonstrates that a 19 large number of young people who are not going to 20 school are getting into trouble, and something needs to be done to ensure that we are addressing that. m. m. And in the 2nd Police Direct, when we looked at thefts from vehicles, and we prepared the months of January '96 to January '97, we found that by taking these young people back to school, that there was a 40 percent decrease in crimes of that nature. For February '96 and February '97, we found a 50 percent decrease.
And that's just in the 2nd District. And as we looked at the entire Northeast Division, one could readily determine, approximately, a 50 percent decline in those specific areas during that time period. So there is definitely a correlation between the young people being on the street during those hours and the crimes that are being committed. Because we also -- which the Councilperson alluded to -- we also looked at the Justice Department study that was provided. And they did a sampling of different 143 RESOLUTION 970703 departments around the country. One that was mentioned was San Diego. And they talked about their experience during the daytime hours as a result of taking young people off of the street and how crime declined significantly in that area. They also talk about the fact that, in some cases, in places such as California, as well as in St. Paul, that purse snatches declined about 50 percent during the day and that shoplifting declined about 60 percent during the time. So here again, it does drive home the emphasis. The Philadelphia Police Department is going to, obviously, continue in our efforts to take these young people back to school, and hopefully experience those kinds of substantial decreases in crime. Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Commissioner. I think that the data that has been gathered across the country, obviously, correlates juvenile crime during those hours with truancy and being absent from school. I think empirically what I think we 144 RESOLUTION 970703 can say is that if we are able to lower the truancy rate in Philadelphia, we will lower the crime rate. I think that every study across the country shows us that. And I think whatever programs that we institute that go along that way will be beneficial in terms of the overall aspect of making that street safer. Councilwoman Fernandez.
Yes. Thank you, Commissioner Neal and the other Commissioners. I am glad we have come almost full circle from the young people who were testifying and sharing some of their experiences as being truant and being disengaged from school, to come back to your testimony, Commissioner, about, I mean, an immediate result of getting kids off the streets and back in school can be a reduction in crime, which is very important to people in our neighborhoods. And then, once they are there, then the school authorities can be much more active in trying to reengage those young people, alert and notify, and perhaps, you know, call into Truancy Court the parents. 145 RESOLUTION 970703 But I think your role as police out there, getting these kids back, sends a very clear message. You are supposed to be in school, that is your job, and we are not going to let you be out there getting into trouble, sometimes inadvertently and sometimes it has gotten even more serious than that. So I think your role, if it is only in the Northeast, I hope it is citywide very soon. Or was that just where you collected the data? COMMISSIONER NEAL: No. The program is citywide. The 21,000 young people are from all over the city. The data that I was referring to was just data that we collected from the Northeast as a part of a pilot program.
I think if I recall maybe four or five or six years ago, there was an attempt to have the police start to get kids who are truant and get them back into school. And it was so flooded, and evidently the other systems didn't know how to deal with it, it was dropped like a hot potato. 146 RESOLUTION 970703 But I think your role as the police, certainly DHS dealing with its young people who are already part of that system, again, one of the young women testifying had been in foster care -- and look at the, you know, many struggles she went through -- so if that could have been identified earlier on with her. And I would even say, Commissioner, even though you are here primarily as the Chair of the Youth Violence Reduction Committee of the Cabinet, I would also say much of the work that you do in the Rec Department, including the increased attention on after-school programs, again, which maybe is a way to reach a child there that then would not go down the path to truancy. So I am glad you are all here. And I think what I would like to hear is if these hearings prompt any further discussion in the Youth and Families Cabinet, with any other ways to coordinate what you are doing or any other new initiatives, I would certainly want to hear them. But that coordination at the top needs to continue with coordination out in the neighborhoods and connected with the neighborhood 147 RESOLUTION 970703 schools. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner, your people have been very diligent, in the morning hours with the special truancy details in every district that I hear them on the radio, in stopping children, putting them in the cars, taking them back to school. Could you explain some of the frustration that your people have, for example, when that act is carried out, and before your people are back in their patrol car pulling out of the parking lot, the kid is coming back out the door again? It seems to be, I mean, some of our high schools, I call them they are like hotels. You go into school, and you decide you want to go out and get coffee, you just go. You just walk out. And I know your people are extremely frustrated with what they feel is kind of walking on a treadmill and never getting anywhere, because there is no way to keep these children, or apparently no effort made to keep these children, on the premises. 148 RESOLUTION 970703 COMMISSIONER NEAL: Well, I would say that certainly any time you are dealing with 21,000 young people during the course of the year, obviously there are a tremendous number of kids that are out on the street. And in some cases, obviously, these are the same kids day in and day out who we are taking back. And certainly that can build up into frustration in the minds of an officer who constantly sees the same individuals out on the street. But I would just like to add that I think that as a result of the kind of cooperation that I spoke to, spoke about earlier, that we are beginning to see a major difference in this entire program. Just like I talked about the database. That as a result of the collaboration between the police department and the school police, that we have now set up that capability where before, as you know, we stopped the kid, the kid had no identification on him, he told him his name was Jim Kenney, for that matter, and he lived at whatever location, and we would have to accept that 149 RESOLUTION 970703 as fact. However, today, as a result of being able to go through our radio system, have them contact the school, get that information, we know immediately if that individual is telling us the truth or not. I think that when we talk about the issue of truancy, that certainly more needs to be done. More needs to be done because of the fact that the problem is continuing to go on day in and day out. I sort of see that there are improvements in the system. But maybe every officer out there that's dealing with this on a day-to-day basis doesn't necessarily see the same thing that I see, and see that there have been improvements, and that, undoubtedly, as we continue to go forth, that they have to continue to do what they are doing because it does make a difference. I have heard you mention about the fact of the elderly lady who has her clothing vandalized on a day-to-day basis. And these are the things that we are confronted with. That we are trying to deal with this 150 RESOLUTION 970703 issue because a number of our customers, if you will, are saying that this is a problem. Whether that be the School Board who is saying this is a problem because these kids are not in school, whether it is the old lady, elderly lady who is saying that these kids are vandalizing my property on a day-to-day basis, or whether it is just a general responsibility of society to say, we are going to insist that these kids go to school because they need an education in order to be successful in life.
And finally, Deputy Commissioner Tucker, I want to commend you on the Truancy Prevention Committee's work. I have been participating for a short time now in the monthly meetings. And it seems that one of the major things that it is accomplishing is allowing the police department and the social service agencies that are contracting with the REP Unit, for example, the School District officials, to have an exchange of information that's really necessary. Because a lot of times the police captain maybe doesn't know that in their particular 151 RESOLUTION 970703 district is a social service contractor that intervenes early in truancy issues, and can call that person up because they met him or her at one of these Truancy Prevention meetings. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER TUCKER: Right.
The only thing I would suggest -- and I have asked the School District to look at this, too -- is a way to develop a concise kind of handbook on information that's available as to where to go, that can be given to police captains, to school principals, to business leaders, you know, people who are president of the business association, or whoever, to know who to call, whether it is DHS or School District personnel or police department personnel or people who provide social service issues. There is not a one-stop place to go to find that information. So I suggested it to the committee, and I suggested it again today, and I have also suggested it at the School District level, to see if we can put together some kind of brochure for everyone involved. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER TUCKER: We will certainly take that back to the committee and look 152 RESOLUTION 970703 at how that can be done.
But they have been doing a very good job. They are very interesting meetings. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER TUCKER: Thank you. I appreciate that. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I ask Mr. McGleese from the School District to come to the table, please. While he is coming, I will ask the question of Commissioner Neal. Commissioner, you have a number of officers deployed, supposedly, in the perimeter of a number of schools throughout the district. Councilman Kenney mentioned about young people being brought back to the school, and they come out. I'd like to know exactly the role of those officers. If they see kids at 11:30 in the morning leaving the school, do they intercept them? And, also, we had meetings and discussed the role of the Philadelphia Police 153 RESOLUTION 970703 Department versus the School District police. And this has been told to me by a constituent, that the School District police sometimes -- I don't know of your ability to observe a group of young people on a corner or in a park en route from one school to another to take an action. But it seems as though there is some confusion on the role that your police department has versus what the Philadelphia Police Department does. Because it seems as though we have got 70-some officers, I believe, assigned to the schools. And it concerns me that it became a controversy when we have 300 and how many officers in the school system, please? MR. McGLEESE: Well, we presently have 332, Councilman.
332. So, Commissioner, if you could explain the role of those officers, what they are there to do. And then, Mr. McGleese, explain the role of the School District police. COMMISSIONER NEAL: Our 60-some police officers are assigned in the areas of the 154 RESOLUTION 970703 schools to patrol those areas. And not only address the problems that exist emanating from the school, but also to address those problems that are in the adjacent community. That's what those officers are there to do on a regular basis. I think what has occurred, to some extent, is that some of those officers, in terms of the amount of time and focus, are focused more on the issues that exist or emanate from the school than in the adjacent community, which has led some people to interpret that to mean that those officers are specifically assigned to the school. As I am sure you are aware, that recently in the 14th District, that the captain fostered or initiated a plan that would take those officers in the 14th District out of the school and have them monitor those schools in that district on a regular basis. Obviously there was some human cry as it related to that, because some people felt that those officers were assigned to the school and should not be taken out. We have met with the School Board, with the Superintendent, as well as with John 155 RESOLUTION 970703 McGleese. We have decided that we would study this issue and, as a result of that study, come up with a plan that would specifically address everyone's concern, the concerns of the problems emanating from the school, as well as the problems that exist in any adjacent community. And that's where we are with that issue at this point. We have set up meetings, and we are in the process of reviewing that.
Thank you. MR. JOHN McGLEESE: Yes. Councilman, with reference to the Philadelphia School police officers, they are assigned in the schools, inside our facilities, as well as we perform a patrol task throughout the entire city. The officers we have in the school facilities, about 284 of those officers, of the 332. And there are about 323, each day of the week -- and that's 95 percent of the force -- they are working during the daytime hours, when our facilities have our children inside the facilities and our facilities are functioning. The rest of the force works on what 156 RESOLUTION 970703 you could consider that 4:00-to-12:00 and 12:00-to-8:00 tour, where we patrol and keep a good eye on our facilities throughout the entire city. We have a day work task force that patrols. And on any day, we have on average of maybe vehicles that cover an entire 129-square 8 miles. 9 So it is easy to see that with 12 10 cars spread out across the entire breadth and width 11 of the city, that's not really a lot of patrol force 12 we have out there. And what those officers do in the morning, they take care of morning details, which would be monitoring the movement of the children coming to the schools, passing through the neighborhoods. Like for example, where we have major SEPTA stops, we will monitor the children coming from the SEPTA stops to the schools to provide for their safety. During the day, they are available to respond to the needs in the schools, if there is some type of a disturbance or if we have an arrest or whatever may be happening throughout the entire 157 RESOLUTION 970703 system, as well as special details, where some schools may need augmented forces during the day. And then again at the end of the day, we are watching the children back and forth again as they are returning home. And as far as our powers, we have powers on property and we have powers within site. So what we do there is specifically, to a great degree, handle problems as they come up inside our schools. And we are able to act on any types of violations on our property.
Mr. McGleese, are you saying that if one of those 12 units patrolling from one location to another observed a group of students in, example, Vernon Park on Germantown Avenue, a few blocks away from Germantown High School, they are not authorized to stop and investigate those young people congregated in that park? MR. McGLEESE: No. To the contrary, Councilman. They can stop. Because they are patrolling, they are school police officers. And if they have a belief that some of these children are truants and, in fact, should be in the schools, they 158 RESOLUTION 970703 do have the power to stop and talk to these children and, in fact, find out what they are doing, and, if possible, return them to the schools.
Are they authorized to do that? MR. McGLEESE: Yes, they are authorized to do that.
Thank you, Mr. McGleese. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. McGleese. Thank you. Dr. Joseph Stewart, Carol Goertzel. It is getting late in the afternoon.
Good afternoon. I am Dr. Joseph Stewart, Deputy Executive Director of the Dr. Warren E. Smith Centers. We at the Dr. Warren E. Smith Health Centers are greatly concerned about this problem of truancy and appreciate the opportunity to address the committees on this subject. As part of a solution, Dr. Warren E. Smith is willing to explore the use of our agency to lend continued support for truancy prevention. 159 RESOLUTION 970703 It might be possible to use our eight facilities located at eight different sites throughout North Philadelphia and Northwest Philadelphia in some manner. Dr. Warren E. Smith stands ready, where plausible and feasible, to expand our reach in the community to help. We have skilled staff, ready to assist as needed. Currently we are contemplating an after-school program for persons with mental retardation. With pilot monies and grants, I have suggested that perhaps this program might be expanded into a community center in which youth may be dropped off or that youth might utilize this as a drop-in center. This center, in my belief, could provide counseling for the youth and/or their families, educational games, tutoring, et cetera. Additionally, as you can see by the brochures that I have given you, Dr. Warren E. Smith provides a variety of services in which the youth and/or their families might participate to resolve any underlying problems which may be contributing to the youth having chronic absenteeism. 160 RESOLUTION 970703 Thank you. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Carol Goertzel.
I am Carol Goertzel, Executive Director of the Women's Association for Women's Alternatives. And with me is Chris Gertz, the Program Manager of our program called School and Family Together, a family preservation currently funded by DHS. I know we are at the end of a long day of testimony, and appreciate your patience as I just go through the testimony for a few minutes, as we implore for an expansion of services to truant children in elementary school. We work with 5 to 10 year olds who are truant from school and are behavior problems in school to the degree that nobody wants to deal with them. And they are referred to us by the school counselors. We started out working with three schools. We now have 13 schools that we are working with one or another children of. 161 RESOLUTION 970703 Mostly we are focused in the Olney area, Germantown. And we have had the referrals to us that we can't handle because we don't have the staff come from Roxborough to North Philadelphia, to the Olney area that we work with in Kensington. The Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, I have given everybody a packet, we do child abuse prevention, independent living for teen moms, job training for adults, and economic self-sufficiency projects where we try to emphasize the need for moms moving from Welfare to work to become self-sufficient. And we do job training in both Delaware and Philadelphia counties. The truancy program, though, or prevention and intervention program, is really close to my heart. It is generally thought of as an issue for older children and children in middle or high schools. And we are a member of the DHS Truancy Committee you referred to that's working with DHS and the schools. We are the only program there working with elementary school children. And the staff has been involved in planning the conference they're 162 RESOLUTION 970703 going to have in the spring. As you see in my testimony, that at any given day, percent of kindergarten through 5 5th graders are absent from school. 6 And the reasons that we found that 7 they are absent from school is that they are at home 8 caring for adult caregivers or younger siblings, 9 they are struggling academically because of improper 10 school placement, they are in need of glasses. Sometimes the problem is simple. They grew too much, they don't have shoes and clothes. They don't have medical attention. They have, as I said, inadequate clothing. They have inappropriate sleeping arrangements and general overcrowding. They are sleeping with a bunch of teenagers, and the TV's on all night. And you have an 8 year old who doesn't get any sleep and doesn't get up. Very poor relationships between teachers and parents. Parents primarily have had very negative experiences with the schools, and they don't particularly think that the schools are going to do their children any good, and they simply don't get them to school. 163 RESOLUTION 970703 Students feel harassed by peers and teachers. Multiple suspensions by the time they are years old. Families living far from school 5 because of the family's moving from place to place 6 or being parahomeless, so to speak. 7 And the parents, as I said, just not 8 invested and not understanding the education process. What we have done that's intervened, that has really helped, and for 80 percent of the children that we have worked with, basic school counselors report that the success has really lasted beyond the time that we intervened. And what we do is in-home visits. We observe the children in school, we bring the parents to the school, we bring them to talking to each other, and we intervene with what's going on at home. So it is a combination in-school work, in-home work, and bringing the people together. We help Families Find Services for ill care givers. We teach families how to advocate for proper school placement.
And by being there in 164 RESOLUTION 970703 the school and being an advocate for the child, that's not blaming the school, but saying, let's make that work, we have been able to get proper school placement for children. We do a lot of mediation between parents and teachers, a lot of conflict solving within the home, sometimes just finding an adult in the home setting who will care for the child and pay attention to the child and take on the task of getting them to school as something that they are doing. We help families resolve transportation issues, we deal with mental health concerns, both with the children and family members, do a lot of understanding the value of education, and then our own after-school kind of work with kids. Basically in the case scenarios you see we find a number of children 7 to 9 who are taking care of elderly family members, like people in their 70s, 80s and 90s. As I get older, 70 isn't that old. But 70s, 80s, and 90s, and the children are the caregiver for the elder person. 165 RESOLUTION 970703 So what we do is find appropriate care for the elder person, so the children -- and somebody who will have the children be children and let the children go to school. The other thing is major mediation between the school and the parents. And in the one case you see there was a blind 91-year-old grandmother who was watching an 8-year-old child and her -- I mean, this is not the extreme. It is not totally typical, but it is not atypical. Her mother was murdered by her father, who was in jail. She was 1 year old. And neither family member wanted to take any responsibility for her. So we worked with all the systems, got her a psych eval, and one of the families took her in as their own, which she is, and we got the grandmother some real care. Our approach is to work in the schools. Without the in-home work, a lot of the truancy prevention for elementary school children can't happen effectively. We have requested DHS to expand the 166 RESOLUTION 970703 service. We hope that will happen. Allegheny West Foundation has come to us and said they would provide space, if we can get funding, to work with their kids. Because the one area they don't do is the combination of in-home services and mediation between parents and teachers and the children, to get the children back in school before they are on the streets full time and before they hit what you heard of, as that 13-year-old mark that the and 12 is the cutoff. By then they are out there. 13 If you work with these kids when they are 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, you can have an impact on some of them, so that they won't be making that decision at age 13, when the parents are often even afraid to really deal with them because they are already out there. So I am basically wanting to just express, again, the need for truancy work to go down to the elementary school, where we can really intervene before they become one of the thousands of children in high school who don't make it. And I don't know if Chris wants to add just a sentence to it. 167 RESOLUTION 970703
Again, my name is Chris Gherst. I am Program Manager of this program, School and Family Together. I really want to stress the importance, again, of working with elementary school children and getting to these children and their parents at an early age. Several people testifying earlier today talked about engagement with schools, and that's where it really needs to happen. We work with the parents, teach them about the schools, teach them about their rights in the schools and what they are entitled to in the school system, and also work with the children to understand that education is important, and this is why you need to go. And really working with the families has made a difference. We not only help the family with the concrete family needs, such as clothing, housing, food, whatever their needs are, but addressing the mental health issues of the children and their parents and addressing the school performance issues. And all of these things tied together 168 RESOLUTION 970703 are working with those or getting the kids back in school and succeeding in school and becoming proud of themselves and having parents become proud of their children and wanting them to go and continue on. One of the examples I wanted to give was that we do followup every three months for a year with our families. And recently we followed up with a family whose mom had had a pretty terrible experience herself in school, was very distrustful of the entire school system, and had a 9-year-old daughter who she sometimes sent to school, sometimes didn't send to school. And so we got involved, and really worked with the parent and the school, and got them together, sat down, worked out a lot of issues, did a lot of mediation there, and the 9-year-old began going to school. But then our concern was her 5-year-old brother who was going to be starting kindergarten the following year. And we went and met up with mom, went up to the school with her, met the kindergarten 169 RESOLUTION 970703 teacher, met the principal at the new school, the school counselor, got her in there right away. And she, we found out, she goes up to the school on a weekly basis, she has regular contact with all of the teachers. And, so, for that 5-year-old it really has made a difference. Because she may not have sent him if we hadn't intervened at all. So that was a really important example for us on what our work is doing.
The schools can't do it alone. One of the schools we work with, Kelly, had one counselor for over 500 children. So there is no way that that school counselor can intervene effectively with those children who are most at risk.
I also wanted to emphasize the enthusiasm that we have had from other schools and other clusters about our program. As Carol mentioned, we focused right now on Germantown cluster and the King cluster. But I have done presentations to Family Resource Network Coordinators citywide. And they all come up to me 170 RESOLUTION 970703 afterwards, how can we get your program. Everybody that I have talked to throughout this School District is interested in the program and would love to see us be able to expand. I also have gone out and talked to the police departments in our areas, and making sure that they know that our program exists. So that when they are out and they see elementary school children, that they know about our program and can either talk to the parent directly and tell them about us, or talk to the school counsel and say, I know that this program exists, can you get this child hooked up. And, again, we are participating in the Truancy Prevention Committee. The other thing we do is hook up families -- because we only work with families for 12 to 14 weeks, we really emphasize hooking them up with the community resources right in their backyards. And we have published a community directory, a directory of community services, for our families. And we have also passed that out to other community people and the schools so they 171 RESOLUTION 970703 know. Because the schools don't always have the resources to put together their own directory of sorts for their counselors and their school community coordinators. So we have tried to help out with that, as well.
Can I just ask, how much does your program cost, and how many families are you able to serve? And is it DHS dollars, or where is your money?
At the moment it is DHS dollars, through the Family Preservation Program. It really costs about $210,000 a year. And we have three social workers, plus Chris, and we are able to work with 40 to 45 families a year. That's because it is intensive in-home. If we were able to work in a more flexible way, where we didn't have to work so many hours with every family and could be flexible, we could work with more children with the same kind of staffing. But I appreciate your holding the hearings. It is just really important. 172 RESOLUTION 970703
It is really important to hear about prevention at the elementary school age. Because I heard the young men, and they could remember back to or 13. But I know as 7 a parent, when kids start to go, sometimes it is 8 5th, 6th grade. And certainly junior high, I think, 9 is probably one of the roughest times for kids. 10 But if bad patterns got set back in 11 elementary school or some of the serious problems 12 don't get uncovered like you are noticing, then school failure is a reason, a very good reason, for a kid not to want to go to school.
That's right. If you are multiply suspended when you are 8 years old, you are not going to make it to be in school when you are 13. I don't mean to be blunt, but it is not going to happen. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Bill.
I am Bill Madera. I am the Associate Director of Philadelphia Citizens For Children and Youth. And before I say anything else, I would like to endorse what everybody has just been 173 RESOLUTION 970703 saying about early prevention of truancy. It is probably the most cost-effective way to prevent truancy in the city. Now, I know it is late. Do you want me to actually read the testimony?
No. It is long. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: It can be included in the record. Just give us the thrust and the short synopsis of it.
Okay. I think the most important thing that hasn't been addressed is that a lot of kids -- and this is on of our testimony -- don't go to school because they can't afford the tokens. Different cities cope with that in different ways. In our testimony we talk about what cities cope with it what way. It is important to remember that the School District is SEPTA's biggest customer, and that it would be worthwhile for us to look into maybe if they would be flexible about arranging for ways for kids to travel. Do you want me to say more about 174 RESOLUTION 970703 that?
I think I am aware of that issue. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: I am aware of the issue.
Councilman Rizzo, do you want to ask me some questions about that issue?
Okay. I guess the most useful thing would be for you to ask me questions, rather than keep us here all through the testimony.
Were there any other specific recommendations you had in terms of --
Not really, that haven't been addressed. One study that has never been cited is something that Big Brothers and Big Sisters did, where they looked at the behavior of kids who had big brothers and big sisters and those who were on the waiting list. And one of the things they found was that kids who had an adult in their life, at 175 RESOLUTION 970703 whatever level, were much more likely to go to school than ones who didn't. So the presence of -- you know, the current buzz word is -- mentor can make an enormous difference. Somebody who is not your parent, who is going to say, how was school this week.
If you have any questions, you know where to find us. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you very much everybody.
Just one quick thing. The 40 families that you service, how do you decide on -- I am sure there are 400 families out there. How do you, just quickly, select the families that you do service?
The school counselor refers the families to us and to DHS. And we get actually at least twice as many families referred, if not three times, and then they have to go through the DHS system and then come back to us. That's why I think if there could be a program like this both DHS funded for those at risk and non-DHS funded, many more children could be 176 RESOLUTION 970703 served. They are referred from us and DHS through the school counselors. We talk to the family, and then they need to go through the DHS Family Preservation System, back to the family, to the school.
Does that mean they are prioritized by who needs the service moreso than others?
Well, sometimes the family is afraid of being a part of the DHS system, so they will say no to the service, even though they said yes to us because they want help with how to stop their child from being truant. But they are afraid of the foster care threat of being involved in the DHS system. And sometimes there is prioritizing, and in terms of the DHS worker who has been assigned. Do you want to add anything to that, Chris? That's how it works right now. 177 RESOLUTION 970703
I just want to formally thank all who have testified, and particularly you all for having stayed around all afternoon and had the benefit of hearing the excellent testimony. And I think, as we said at the beginning, truancy is a serious problem because it is, first, a warning that there is already trouble, a child is feeling disengaged from school. And then it is also a warning that greater trouble is going to come if we don't find a way to get kids back in school and reengaged. And I thought the testimony of the young people was a very important way to start out, because they told us so clearly some of the things that had happened to them that had led them to be truant, and then what are some of the positive things that helped them get reconnected. So at least some of the major messages I heard today is, young people do need caring adults, parents -- if not them, then teachers; if not there, then mentors, or perhaps adults in other programs, whether it is Rec programs or PAL programs or whatever. 178 RESOLUTION 970703 But that relationship of a child with an adult to say I'm loved and I care about you, and I am going to set some limits and expectations, I think was a major message we heard from the young people. And I think to send that message loud and clear, the fact that the police now are returning kids who are truant and perhaps getting in trouble in the neighborhoods or in their homes, they are getting them back into school. And I am very pleased that Family Court and the School District are working out a way to perhaps have Truancy Court out in the neighborhoods for the very serious cases, that perhaps, again, were accessible for the people involved. I also heard and was interested in what the Health Commissioner said about Act 26, that might provide some leverage to ID and get treatment for young people who are into serious drug and alcohol problems. And I think I want to try to find perhaps some CVH money to make sure that could get implemented. 179 RESOLUTION 970703 I also hear you all talking about working with kids early on in elementary school. And I think perhaps we on Council could be talking about DHS and see if there is a way to expand that as a very, again, cost-effective investment. I would cost it out. For $5,000 per family, that, again, is a very wise investment in prevention. Because once a kid gets, you know, in serious trouble, serious drug and alcohol treatment, or time in the Youth Study Center or other places, plus the property crimes and other kinds of crimes and costs to the community, that's a very cost-effective investment. And I would say the other, sum up, the young people where they said, if you have your fingers in your ears, you can't hear. And I think if we could all find ways to help young people get their fingers out of their ears so they can hear, and also for adults, whether it is parents or teachers or others, to get their fingers out of their ears, so they can hear the cries for help from young people, I think we will go a long way towards not just addressing the issue of 180 RESOLUTION 970703 truancy, but preventing kids from getting into crime, from being victims of crime, and becoming productive members of our society. So, again, I want to thank all who were part of this, Councilman Ortiz for being here as Chair of the Committee, and also Beth Moy Jang, a member of my staff who spent a lot of time putting these hearings together. CHAIRMAN ORTIZ: Thank you all. I know that you need a rest, so this hearing stands in recess until the call of the Chair. (Public Hearing adjourned at 4:35 p.m.) - - - 181 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of Wednesday, January 28, 1998, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of same. RE: COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION and PUBLIC SAFETY _____________________________________ DEBRA A. WHITEHEAD, RPR