Pubdate: Sun, 06 Aug 2006
Source: Hattiesburg American (MS)
Copyright: 2006 Hattiesburg American
Contact:  http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1646
Author: Nancy Kaffer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

PROGRAM WILL HELP KIDS STAY OUT OF TROUBLE

Starting this school year, some Pine Belt public schools plan to 
offer a program administrators hope will keep youthful miscreants 
from becoming youthful felons.

The Youth Development Initiative will receive referrals from schools, 
the youth court or district parents, said Alan Oubre, Hattiesburg 
schools executive director of support services.

"When they find out a child is slipping toward delinquency, it's a 
diversion program," he said. "They counsel (the children), provide 
community services and even get into mediation."

The program will begin in Hattiesburg and Petal public schools in the 
upcoming school year. Petal Schools Superintendent James Hutto said 
his district is working on coordinating the program's launch.

David Rothbart, director of Court Programs Inc., the Gulfport-based 
private corporation that is pioneering the program, said similar 
efforts were launched more than two years ago in George County and 
later expanded to Greene County.

The local program, he said, will be slightly different - the Greene 
and George county programs rely solely on referrals for children 
already involved in the Youth Court.

"In talking with the (Forrest County) Youth Court, we found out what 
areas the schools were having problems with - from truancy to 
fighting to drug use," Rothbart said.

"They're not things that were felony charges that would mandatorily 
go to Youth Court, but there were really no educational options 
available to (at-risk) kids."

Forrest County Schools Superintendent Kay Clay said she wasn't 
familiar with the program, but said she'd be interested in learning 
more about it. Forrest County Agricultural High School district 
officials didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

The initiative's work focuses on making children aware that there are 
consequences for their actions, Rothbart said. The initiative will 
have specific responsibilities for children that could include 
counseling, community service, house arrest or simply bringing 
homework to an initiative counselor for review.

In all cases, he said, parents are involved.

"We're making parents responsible for their kids," Rothbart said. 
"That's one of the problems we have - sometimes parents don't want to 
take responsibility for their kids, and they want the school to be 
the parents."

Compliance isn't optional.

The program is written into the Hattiesburg public schools' 
newly-revised disciplinary code, Rothbart said, and children who are 
referred to the program must participate to continue attending school 
in the district.

Oubre said the district has three or four referrals ready for the 
program. And Rothbart said he expects to average about 15-20 students 
in the program at any given time.

Participation and compliance in Greene and George counties has been 
high - about 90 percent of youths referred to the program fully 
participate and comply with program requirements.

But Rothbart said the program hasn't tracked success in terms of how 
many participants stay out of Youth Court. Students referred to the 
program in those counties are already involved with the court.

He said tracking those statistics will be part of any programs 
launched in Forrest County.

Parents are involved in the program in another important way, 
Rothbart said - the program is parent-funded, at $15 for every 
session the child attends with an initiative counselor.

The program isn't a moneymaker; Rothbart said he's not expecting to 
break even. Funding comes from more profitable adult offender 
counseling programs his company operates across the country.

Oubre and Rothbart said the initiative is a program with potential 
for great change in the area.

"I hope it will reduce delinquency and associated things that will 
improve attendance," Oubre said. "It's one of many things we're using 
to help our kids."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman