[Merced County] Grand jury reports on supes fund, concealed weapons

The newest annual report from the Merced County grand jury touches on a variety of local issues including homelessness, the county’s use of discretionary funding, and concealed weapons.

The report issued this week calls on the county Board of Supervisors to do a better job of tracking the members’ discretionary funds, a pool of $40,000 each supervisor gets every year.

The jury found that the board “has no consistent or standard request process” for the discretionary funding. There is no form that allows residents to apply for the dollars, it’s not tracked or audited by the county, and the county does not verify that the money is benefiting a nonprofit, the report says.

Residents submitted 14 complaints for this year’s report, according to the jury, and seven were held over for next year.

The report praised the Merced County Continuum of Care, a coalition of homeless advocates and service providers, for its efforts. The report noted the coalition has brought $1.2 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for an array of homeless services since 2011.

The jury found that the board “has no consistent or standard request process” for the discretionary funding.

The county contracts with Pasadena-based nonprofit Urban Initiatives to work with the continuum. Regular attendance from group members has increased since the nonprofit came aboard, the report says.

The report says the city is working on two homeless housing projects, a 37-unit facility by Highway 99 and a southeast Merced project that could hold as many as 80 people.

“(The jury) commends the city of Merced and Merced County for their efforts in initiating a constructive program for dealing with the homeless issue,” the report says.

The 21-member jury of county citizens was made up of residents of Atwater, Los Banos and Merced, according to the report.

(The jury) commends the city of Merced and Merced County for their efforts in initiating a constructive program for dealing with the homeless issue.

Merced County grand jury report

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office and local police departments are properly following concealed carry laws and procedures, which govern who can carry a concealed gun, the report says. The Sheriff’s Office processes most of those requests, the jury found.

Some agencies require home visits and interview neighbors to determine if an applicant has shown anger management problems or displays hate paraphernalia, the jury found. The Sheriff’s Office does not allow .22-caliber handguns to be concealed, according to the report, because the bullets are unstable.

The jury also looked at Merced County sheriff’s deputy pay, water quality in Los Banos and the process used by the Los Banos Unified School District to build its newest junior high. Every year the jury also looks into the county’s prison, jails and juvenile facilities.

July 22, 2016

Merced Sun-Star

By Thaddeus Miller

Opinion: Orange County risks failing our foster kids

Blog note: this opinion piece comments on a recent grand jury report.

More than 2,300 children in Orange County have been removed from the care of their biological parents and are currently living in foster care.

Each is a human being with great potential. And each has much greater challenges to overcome than other kids. They face a future in which they are more likely to end up homeless, or part of the criminal justice system or unemployed.

The true test of our community’s greatness – of our country’s greatness – is how we care for the most vulnerable among us. That’s why our tax dollars help support these orphaned kids, and why lawmakers have strengthened laws aimed at ensuring they have the same opportunities other kids have.

Yet, by that measure, a recent Orange County Grand Jury report’s findings offer a scathing view of our community’s values when it comes to how we approach caring for the children who need us so much.

Last month, the Grand Jury exposed a foster care system in dire need of more homes for kids who have nowhere else to go. Among the findings, the report concluded that the programs desperately need the resources “to attract and retain trained, supportive and committed foster families who will provide love and stability to all children in foster care.”

And the report described the almost impossible tasks of the social workers who are charged with recruiting foster parents, identifying safe homes and providing support to the children and their families. Up until earlier this year, only three social workers and two event specialists were assigned to recruiting foster families, leading to a sharp decline of the number of available foster homes in the county. And now, even though 400 homes still remain cleared to take in children, only 140 currently accept placements.

“Clearly staff resources were inadequate for the challenging tasks,” the Grand Jury wrote.

National standards recommend social workers who protect these vulnerable youth carry caseloads of no more than 15 at any given time. That’s because each case involves so much more than just one child and can include the foster family, the biological family, siblings and requirements for regular visitation.

In Orange County, the Grand Jury found average caseloads are between 23 and 30 – way over the standard. They’re stretched thin beyond measure, making it difficult to nurture relationships with foster families. That, in turn, makes the fostering experience less attractive.

We regularly hear from social workers who take time off work so they can catch up on paperwork, who work double digit hours every day to ensure these kids are protected, who can’t sleep at night and feel guilty of taking time away from the job because of the consequences of a chink in the already fragile safety net. The stress has led to a turnover rate of approximately 25 percent, exacerbating the problem, as it takes about a year and a half for a new hire to be fully trained.

In its recent response to this crisis, the county inaccurately rejected the worker turnover rate and the effects high case loads are having on the children in the county’s foster care system.

If we are going to meet the needs of these kids, to give them the best shot at a good future, we must acknowledge these issues instead of attempting to explain them away. And we must invest in the futures of all Orange County’s children – especially those who need us most.

July 22, 2016

The Orange County Register

By Jennifer Muir Beuthin, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association

[Ventura County] Office of education answers grand jury report

Safety at Phoenix schools discussed

ON CAMPUS—The Phoenix schools were the focus of a recent Ventura County grand jury investigation that looked at student and staff safety at its campuses in Camarillo and Moorpark. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers Campus police officers have proved effective in keeping students and staff safer at schools across Ventura County.

That law-and-order approach, however, may do more harm than good at the county’s Phoenix schools, which serve students with serious emotional and behavioral issues.

The Ventura County Office of Education delivered that message to the Ventura County grand jury in response to a recent grand jury report suggesting that the largest Phoenix location, Phoenix- Airport in Camarillo, would benefit from a full-time resource officer.

It was one of a handful of recommendations the grand jury sent the office of education in April following an investigation on safety concerns at the Phoenix schools.

There are two Phoenix schools in Camarillo and one in Moorpark.

Together they serve about 135 students who are unable to learn in a traditional classroom setting. Many of them are dealing with issues like schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

Students who act out impulsively or in frustration feel more comfortable in a structured classroom environment with a low student-to-teacher ratio.

Even with the extra attention, however, it is common for staff to call police to help when a student loses control.

Indeed, police answer two to three calls a week at the school on Airport Way.

Sparked by a “public complaint about safety in the Phoenix schools in Ventura County,” the grand jury launched an investigation into how campus security is handled.

“These are students with severe emotional disturbances that seemed very vulnerable to us,” Pamela Riss, the grand jury’s foreperson, told the Acorn. “We were also made aware that the sheriff’s office was being called to the campus (on Airport Way) quite frequently, and the combination of the two seemed to have the potential for the perfect storm.”

In its report, the grand jury said Phoenix staffers were “well-trained” in addressing and diffusing hostile behavior, but noted the high volume of calls made to the Camarillo Police Department by staff at the 75-student campus near the Camarillo Airport.

A full-time school resource officer at the Airport Way campus could help mentor students and assist staff during crises, the grand jury said.

It also said the relationship between the school district and Ventura County Sheriff’s Office could be stronger and advised the two to work more closely to improve police presence at Phoenix campuses.

The grand jury also suggested the sheriff’s office ensure all patrol officers who may be called to Phoenix schools undergo crisis-intervention training to better respond during campus conflicts.

Though acknowledging the report was well-intentioned, the county board of education’s response largely disputed the findings.

Roger Rice, the office of education’s deputy superintendent for student services, said it is important to understand that practices used in “mainstream” schools don’t always work with Phoenix students.

“No disrespect to the grand jury— they were very professional— but these schools are extremely unique and you can’t work with these students from a traditional perspective,” Rice told the Acorn. “A lot of the mental illnesses they have been diagnosed with result in assaultive behaviors and (issues with authority).

“The approach we have used,” Rice continued, “is through a very strong partnership with Ventura County Behavioral Health, laying on as much therapeutic support as we can and treating them with very targeted services.”

The office of education disagreed that the schools’ relationship with law enforcement is weak and bucked the grand jury’s advice to assign a school resource officer to the Airport Way campus. Instead, school officials said, students and staff would be better served if responding deputies are specially trained in handling violent outbursts by the students.

“The idea that the presence of law enforcement on campus would tend to de-escalate student behavior is simply not supported by research,” county school officials said in their response. “In fact, it is often the case that students with severe emotional disturbances are easily agitated and may be more oppositional in the face of authority than their more typical peers.”

Rice added that funding a full-time school resource officer is financially out of reach for the district.

“It’s really not financially sustainable to have a $200,000 officer at a school campus with 75 kids,” he said. “Even large, mainstream high schools struggle with the affordability of the law enforcement personnel and often will split the cost amongst multiple sites.”

Although the office of education disagreed with the majority of the grand jury’s observations and recommendations, it agreed to engage in “ongoing conversations” with the sheriff’s office to improve student safety.

The office of education said it is open to additional funding to promote school safety and improve police and teen rapport. It has also begun conversations with the sheriff’s office to determine if deputies responding to the campus need more training.

“If we could find a way with the sheriff to facilitate appropriate training for the officers so they better understand our kids, that’s great,” Rice told the Acorn. “We would certainly be open to that.”

While there are always opportunities for improvement, Rice said, he has a “great deal of confidence” in the Phoenix and Ventura County Behavioral Health staffers.

“They work well together,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to minimize the importance of protecting students and staff— that’s extremely critical— but we have the most highly trained people possible working with these kids.”

Riss said the grand jury cannot comment on the office of education’s response to its report.

July 22, 2016

Moorpark Acorn

By Stephanie Sumell