It is important to know where you have been in order to know where you are going. The student pictured is a client. He is a Denver Public School (DPS) student, diagnosed with autism. In 2011 the student was assigned to an affective needs (AN) center program. The AN program is said to be designed for students with emotional disabilities, not students with autism, intellectual disabilities, other health impairments (e.g. ADHD) or other disabilities.

Each day, the bus ride home for the student was 45 minutes. One day he started crying “it’s too long”, got out of his seat and kicked the paraprofessional on the bus. The bus was minutes from the parents’ home, but the driver turned the bus around and returned to the school. The principal called the police and then the parents. When the parents arrived, their young child was in handcuffs. The police said that they could not take the handcuffs off, they loaded him into the police car, and because of his young age, drove him the hospital; they removed the handcuffs once he was in the care of a doctor. AdvocacyDenver worked with the family and district and the student was moved to a program designed for children with autism.

In 2011 and today a disproportionate number of Black male students are placed in the DPS AN center programs. AdvocacyDenver tried to work for systemic change with each superintendent and each special education director. We saw momentum in 2020 when the District initiated Project DISRUPT as a means to dismantle institutionalized racism. In the fall of 2020, DPS forwarded the following Problem Statement to district/school staff:

Affective Needs Center based programming is one of our most glaring examples of institutionalized racism with Denver Public Schools, which disproportionately impacts Black male students. In order to break historical and contemporary patterns of inequity, this system needs to be abolished, and we must reimagine how we serve Black students with known and suspected disabilities by designing and committing to the implementation of anti-racist, anti-ableist policies, structures, and mindsets.

The special education director promised systemic change. The project was established in 2020 and shut down June 2021. No steps were taken to resolve admitted issues of race and disability discrimination. Then and now the district admits that Black students are consistently overrepresented in AN center programs. AdvocacyDenver exhausted school and administrative remedies to try to resolve issues. AdvocacyDenver forwarded and resolved formal and informal complaints on behalf of individual students; however, outcomes did not result in systemic change.

On August 2, 2021 AdvocacyDenver filed a complaint of discrimination with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. The complaint was accepted, the investigation is pending.

On March 24, 2022, AdvocacyDenver filed a state-level complaint against Denver Public Schools on behalf of parents of Black students identified as children with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) and placed in affective needs (“AN”) programs. The State Complaints Officer determined that AdvocacyDenver identified five systemic allegations subject to the jurisdiction of the state-level complaint process under the IDEA and its implementing regulations. Due to the significant number of identified Students and the voluminous documentation required to resolve the systemic allegations, the State Complaints Officer extended the 60-day investigation timeline due to exceptional circumstances. The decision was issued September 7, 2022.

• Conclusion to Allegation No. 1: District systematically failed to conduct comprehensive evaluations or make appropriate eligibility determinations for Students, in violation of 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.304 and 300.306(c).
• Conclusion to Allegation No. 2: District systematically failed to educate Students in their least restrictive environment, in violation of 34 C.F.R. § 300.114. District also systematically failed to ensure Students could participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities to the greatest extent possible, in violation of and 300.116 and ECEA Rule 4.03(8)(a) and 300.117.
• Conclusion to Allegation No. 3: District included Parents in discussions about placement changes, consistent 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.116(a)(1) and 300.327. However, District systemically failed to issue prior written notice of placement changes, in violation of 34 C.F.R. § 300.503.
• Conclusion to Allegation No. 4: District failed to ensure teachers at two AN programs and (District) Facility School possessed required certifications and licenses, in violation of 34 C.F.R. § 300.156 and ECEA Rule 3.03.
• Conclusion to Allegation No. 5: District systematically failed to develop, review, and revise IEPs tailored to Students’ individualized needs, in violation of 34 C.F.R §§ 300.320(a)(2), 300.324(a), and 300.324(b)(1)(ii)(A).

The State Complaints Officer provided the district a long list of corrective actions and the timeline for completing those actions. The Decision, when published can be found at: https://www.cde.state.co.us/spedlaw/decisions

The decision is far reaching and provides a long list of corrective actions including training facilitated by Colorado Department of Education to all special education leadership (e.g. Executive Director, Directors, Managers or any other central District staff who support building leaders at schools with AN programs), school building leaders at with AN programs, AN Program Teachers, Facility School Teachers and School Psychologists and Social Workers who support these programs.

No doubt, the Superintendent will honor the order issued by the State Complaints Officer. We are all lifelong learners, and we are certain that the training will be welcomed by many; the training will offer staff additional tools needed to appropriately serve marginalized communities of learners. Now that we have talked about where we have been, looking forward, professional development cannot and should not be a one-time activity. Denver Public Schools Superintendent has the opportunity to make a decision that will serve students well into the future. The Superintendent can honor school autonomy on some matters, but firmly forward a culture/procedures that demand professional learning and compliance when it comes to Individuals with Disabilities Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Denver Public Schools’ Consent Decree.

The post Students Prevail in Systemic Complaint Against Denver Public Schools appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

From The Desk of Pamela Bisceglia

On February 6, 2020, a complaint of discrimination was filed by a member of Denver Public School (“DPS”) staff against the Principal of Inspire Elementary School. The complaint was filed in accordance with DPS Board of Education policy AC. The complainant alleged that the Principal discriminated against the student based on race (Black) and disability. AdvocacyDenver appreciates the staff that stood firm advocating for the appropriate treatment of the student and forwarded the complaint of discrimination.

The District conducted an internal investigation.  The investigation included a review of documentary evidence and interview of individual witnesses including the principal, the student, and his guardian.

June 16, 2020, the Investigator issued the findings; specifically, the Investigator found that the Principal used her authority to discriminate against the student based on his race, in violation of Board Policy AC and AC-R1, as evidenced by the following non-exhaustive list of incidents.

• The Principal used her authority to try to prevent the student from attending Inspire. The guardian provided the school with evidence of address.  Steps were taken by the Principal and her staff in contacting the Manager of the Apartment Complex in “Stapleton”, and informed them that the family was using that address as their place of residency, which caused the family to receive a ten-day eviction notice.
• The Principal documented the student’s behaviors in the District’s student reporting system, Infinite Campus, in a manner that appeared to build a case for removing him from the school under the appearance of safety concerns for staff and students. However, a white student with the same or similar behaviors was not documented in this same fashion.
• The Principal used improper student discipline and thereby failed to use the District’s discipline matrix outlined in Board Policy JK and JK-R.
• The Principal failed to follow hold/restraint protocols and implement Non-Crisis Intervention (NCI) guidelines which provide the circumstances under which holds and restraints may be used. The Principal failed to report the physical holds that were administered to the student’s guardian and failed to properly document the restraints as required by Board Policy JKA and JKA-R.
• The Principal repeatedly called DPS Safety and Security about the student. She also called the Denver Police Department (DPD), even though the student was only eight years old, and she allowed a DPD officer to interrogate this and other elementary students, without notifying parents in violation of Board Policy JIH. This led to the DPD Officer confronting the guardian and student and threatening the guardian about the possibility of her child being arrested and charged in the future. 
• The Principal demanded that school-based and District-based staff proceed with the testing process for an Individualized Education Program on an accelerated timeline so that the student could be placed in an intensive needs program outside of Inspire Elementary School.
• The Principal reported the guardian to the Denver Human Services on three separate occasions based on her assumptions that the student was not being picked up at the bus stop after school, being left alone until 9:00 p.m. and her own medical diagnoses of the student needing to be on medication and receive outside therapy.
• The Principal constantly called the guardian regarding the student’s behavior, asking that she come to the school in the middle of the day, knowing that if she came to the school the guardian would take him home because of the guardian’s concern for his safety and wellbeing. The guardian’s concern for his safety was amplified when she learned that he was being put in hold/restraints by the Principal and other staff at Inspire which caused her to keep him home and later request that be transferred to another school.

AdvocacyDenver understands that corrective measures were taken.  The Principal can appeal if she disagrees with the District’s findings.  Having said that, AdvocacyDenver expects that District leaders and the Board of Education will stand firm and will not entertain bringing this principal back to DPS in any capacity.  It is the guardian’s wish that the Principal, not be employed by any school district; the social, emotional, and educational harm caused by this staff is immense.  The student has always enjoyed school and although he expects he will no longer attend Inspire, he does not demonstrate the same thirst/love for learning.  It will take time for the District to restore their working relationship with the family.  It will take time for the family to trust that school is a safe, welcoming place.

The post Finding That Inspire Elementary School Principal Discriminated Against a Student Based on Race appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

From The Desk of Pamela Bisceglia

Dear Denver Public Schools Board of Education:

We are writing as advocates in the disability community to ask that you support the call of your colleagues, Tay Anderson and Jennifer Bacon, to end the human rights violations of school policing. In this historic moment spurred by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, we call on you to do what is right and just and vote to terminate the Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) contract with the Denver Police Department and remove all police from the DPS.

The school to prison pipeline has been an issue that has been at the forefront of our work. This is an issue where AdvocacyDenver appreciates having an opportunity to collaborate with Padres, other community groups and Denver Public Schools to forward change. This is an issue that impacts black and brown male students and a growing number of female students, but it also significantly impacts students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are among the most acutely impacted by school policing, at risk of being criminalized at school. Between 40-60 percent of youth and adults in correction facilities have an identified disability. October 2019, we submitted a request to CDE and received a copy of what DPS submitted regarding referrals to law enforcement beginning in 2015. For 2018-2019 the available data confirms that that although 11 percent of the students enrolled in DPS are identified as having a disability, they make up 25% of the referrals to law enforcement.

Based on the advocacy referrals received by AdvocacyDenver and other community agencies, we suspect that the number of calls to law enforcement went up this year. That is, Denver Public Schools Safety and Security ended the practice of handcuffing children and instead elementary, middle and high schools were directed to call the police department. Parents report that they are called after the police and asked to come to the school campus. Fall 2019, the parent of a 5-year-old child with a disability was summoned to the elementary school, she was terrified to see two police officers with her 5-year-old black son.

We support a Board of Education Resolution that calls for the end of the contract with Denver Police Department. We support a Resolution that calls for a review of the role and responsibility of DPS Safety and Security officers. We support a Resolution that calls for an independent review when Safety and Security or the police are called to a campus. We support a decision to provide highly trained staff versed in working with a diverse urban population, positive behavior interventions and restorative practices.

It is time for DPS to invest in practices that improve outcomes for all students, including but not limited to restorative justice programs; increased use of school psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals; drug and alcohol treatment services; wraparound services for youth; and training for all school staff on restorative practices, conflict resolution techniques and trauma-informed approaches to meeting students’ developmental needs.

Respectfully,

Pamela Bisceglia
Executive Director

The post Community Endorses a Board Resolution to Remove School Resource Officers and Review of Role and Responsibility and Actions of Denver Public Schools Safety and Security appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

How do you characterize the state of mental health for children in Colorado?

Senator Fields (Senate Sponsor):

Colorado is experiencing a mental health crisis as it relates to our children and youth.  The indicators for that would be the increased number of teen suicides.  For kids between the ages of 10 and 24, the highest rate of death for them is suicide. That is a Colorado statistic.  The health survey that kids take says, ‘Kids are feeling sad for more than two weeks in the past 12 months.’  We have a tremendous number of kids who are feeling sad while in school.  What is causing that sadness?  We don’t know.  Kids are dealing with all kinds of gender identification issues and bullying.    We know kids at risk have issues of income insecurity and food insecurity.  It has a lot to do with poverty.  If you are living in a neighborhood, where there are concentrated areas of crime, violence, and poverty all of that is going to impact a child’s behavioral health.

Why is the bill necessary?

Our youth, our kids, our families need a system of care coordination.  Our kids are falling through the cracks because they are not identified early if they have a behavioral health issue.  Typically, what might happen is a kid might be defiant or acting out in school, they get expelled or suspended and their families later find out that they had a behavioral health issue.  If we could start identifying kids who are experiencing issues, like depression, early on, we could start coordinating wrap around services.  We could save lives.  Far too many kids are committing suicide and/or are experiencing issues of addiction. What happens in our state agencies is we have pockets of different departments doing a variety of different things.  If we can have one-person work across the state within our state organizations to find ways to be much more efficient in our delivery of care for kids, we can save lives.

How will this bill specifically impact the youth mental health crisis?

Right now, our coordination of care is disjointed.  You have people operating as independent departments. You have a criminal justice system that is working with juveniles.  You have a welfare system that is dealing with youth.  You have school systems dealing with kids and the trauma they bring into the classroom every day.  You have hospitals dealing with an increased number of kids with attempted suicides. We need to have more of a coordinated approach when dealing with behavioral health and our kids. One part of the bill is to have a Commission that looks at all the different delivery resources available for behavioral health.  Where is there duplication?  What are the trends they’re seeing?  What kinds of resolution can be tied to problems?   It is an action orientated Commission.  If we have someone looking at this on a larger strategic scale, I think we would see that crisis number go down.

How important is the bill’s implementation of wraparound services?

Representative Landgraf (House Sponsor):

Colorado taxpayers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars across a range of intensive services. These include: Medicaid inpatient stays in hospitals, emergency department visits, residential treatment, expensive psychotropic medication, child welfare, juvenile justice and supports in the K through 12 school system.  With these kids, it’s often a multiple number of entities that are involved from schools to inpatient treatment and everything in between.  Kids are not getting proper treatment but we are paying for it.  Or, they are languishing because there’s no place for the child to go. Wraparound services should reduce the need for residential treatment. If you can figure out what the problem is, you can avoid some of these things.  This bill saves money by providing the proper treatment instead of a shotgun approach.

How much is the fiscal note?

It’s about 1.3 million.  A large part of that amount is coming from the federal government.  It is not all coming from the General Fund.  About $500,000 of that will come from the state. You can’t put a price on a kid.  When you think about the number of children who have problems, if you divide 1.3 million among all those kids, it’s nothing. Colorado right now is one of the worse states in the nation for kids with mental health issues.  We’re at the bottom, because of lack of mental health services, lack of wraparound services, lack of recognition.  We have to make a change so kids get the right diagnosis and the right treatment.  When they don’t get that treatment early, by the time they do get it, they are too far gone. This bill can take Colorado from being one of the lowest states in helping children with behavioral health issues to being one of the best states in the country.

Is the high youth suicide rate the reason you have thrown your support behind this bill?

Suicide is the startling point of the whole conversation, but suicide is not the only point of the conversation.  We’re trying to help kids who maybe will never be suicidal but have behavioral health problems. Maybe they don’t want to kill themselves but they want to kill somebody else.  They will end up in jail.  We want to avoid all of that.  I think Colorado should be the state that does not fail its kids.  We are a beautiful state and we have a lot to offer.  We need to have this to offer too.  

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Bipartisan Support to Combat Colorado’s Youth Mental Health Crisis appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

An Interview with Catherine Strode

This week, the House Education Committee will hear testimony on House Bill 1194.  The bill establishes requirements under which public schools can suspend or expel students enrolled in preschool through second grade (usually three or four year olds through 7 year olds). Colorado Department of Education reports that 5,849 kindergarten through 2nd grade public school students were suspended from school in 2017-2018.  The bill is aligned with national recommendations that seek to limit school removal for very young children while endorsing thoughtful exceptions that ensure school safety.

The bill has bipartisan sponsors in both the House and the Senate.  Republican State Representative Colin Larson, says education is a priority issue for him as a legislator.  He supports the bill because he says he doesn’t want to set kids back educationally or developmentally at young ages.

What sparked your interest in relation to the discipline of Colorado’s youngest students?

I’m very passionate about school choice and the inequity issues that are inherent in our education system. I consider myself someone that favors discipline and protecting the order of the classroom. But you’re talking about preschool age children, kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders. If an 8-year-old bites you, that’s an 8-year-old not understanding social norms. The idea you could expel a child that young for behavior that should be viewed more as a teachable moment than as a real disciplinary issue, struck a chord with me. You hear about a vast disparity, particularly with students of color and students with disabilities, that end up ultimately getting suspended or expelled. I look at this as an opportunity for us to make a value statement as an educational system. When you are this young, in second grade or below, we need as a society to give you every chance to correct behavioral issues. You’re not going to change or correct a behavior if the knee jerk reaction is to kick them out of the classroom. That was the impetus (for me) to get behind this bill. I want to make sure these young kids are in a school environment where there are professionals who can identify issues and get them help so their academic progress isn’t halted in the cradle. So they have a chance to go on later and succeed in their educational career.

If House Bill 1194 passes, what would you hope it achieves?

The data is overwhelming that kids with disabilities, and minority students, are bearing the unequal brunt of these early suspension policies. Those are two populations with some of the worst educational outcomes; we need to try and figure out what we can do to better serve them. This bill recognizes that rather than setting back a kid’s educational development with a heavy handed action like a suspension or an expulsion, we need to take the time to invest in that child and figure out if there is an intervention that can correct the behavior. We hear all the time about undiagnosed learning disabilities and developmental disabilities. My hope with this bill would be when requiring a kid to stay in the school building, school professionals could potentially diagnose and respond to underlying challenges or needs. This would encourage schools to take corrective action on site, get the kids help for better identification and treatment of social/emotional, behavioral and learning issues. That is the intention of the legislation.

What impact would this bill have on student achievement?

I hope we would start to see an increase in reading scores, particularly in students of color and students with disabilities, groups that right now are disproportionate recipients of out of school suspensions in these early years. That we would ultimately see better literacy leaving high school, an increase in graduation rates, and lower rates of remediation for college work. That’s the ultimate policy goal here. For me, I look at education as the foundation of the rest of your life. If we can figure out how to educate children properly and effectively, we can save money as a state down the road by not incarcerating them. Law enforcement officials talk about the number of people in jails who are functionally illiterate, or have some form of mental health issue. I think there is a direct correlation between not adequately educating kids in the first place and the populations we are seeing today in our criminal justice system. I would much rather spend money on textbooks than jail cells. I would rather get kids the interventions that they need early. We’ll see dividends paid down the road. That’s the hope.

Do you think there is bipartisan support for this bill?

Yes. There is bipartisan support for this bill. I think this bill is narrow and tailored, particularly with the age limit being the second grade. Some of the biggest concerns I have heard come from the rural schools. I wouldn’t say it’s a disagreement with the legislation. Their concern is limited support staff. Working with those schools to try and address resource issues is probably going to be the trickiest part of this legislation. We are trying to create some abilities for rural schools, to approach the idea a little bit differently. We allow for appropriate time to get support staff out to the school. There’s an allowance for that when there isn’t a school psychologist or social worker available on the campus. I think that’s going to be the biggest issue at this point, more so than an issue between Republicans and Democrats.

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Child Discipline Reform Measures Up for Hearing appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

Seven months ago, Christiano Sosa took over the helm of the Arc of Colorado. During that time, he united the state’s 14 Chapters around the 2018 legislative agenda. That agenda produced five prioritized bills that all successfully passed.

In an interview with Catherine Strode, Christiano reflects on this legislative progress and offers his vision moving forward. Part of that vision includes a statewide listening tour he will kick off this June.

What are your reflections on the past seven months?
“A tremendous foundation has been built over the last 10 years. I am fortunate to come into an organization that is widely known and respected at the Capitol for our bipartisan work on behalf of those with developmental or intellectual disabilities (IDD). This is difficult, complex work. It takes whole communities to rally together. I saw that in this Session. We have tremendous Chapters throughout the state. These Chapters are comprised of parents, of siblings, and of people with IDD. Their voice is amazing. The job of the Arc of Colorado is to help folks find voice in legislation. It is a privilege and an honor to be able to do that.”

What are your reflections on the Session?
“We had tremendous wins in this Session. All five of our prioritized bills went on to the Governor. That is an amazing accomplishment. We had a priority in ensuring that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) have clear paths to employment. We worked with our partners at the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), the Disabilities Council, the Arc of Larimer County and countless others to ensure that people understand best practices under discovery and intake. Employment is talked about first as an option. Meanwhile, employment is talked about first as an option. People with IDD in the state now have landlord tenant rights. Previously, they were excluded from statute. We were able to increase Direct Service Providers’ wages 6.5 per cent. We whittled down the waiting list for the Comprehensive Waiver. That waiting list is close to three thousand. We were able to get three hundred new slots, or about 10 per cent. We were able to reauthorize the Child Mental Health Treatment Act and make that permanent.  Finally, we were able to move the Children’s Habilitation Residential Program Waiver (CHIRP) over to HCPF from the Department of Human Services. In the process, we got rid of the requirement that parents give up their custodial rights if their child has mental health needs and requires residential treatment.

With some of those bill sponsors leaving the legislature, are you concerned about how those voids will be filled?
“Fundamentally I believe policy issues around individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities are bipartisan. I believe our legislators are looking out for those in the community that have the most need. The Arc of Colorado and our 14 Chapters have a lot of practice in terms of grooming legislators to understand the complex issues that make up of the world of IDD. Our job is two-fold, one is about education and the other is to work with our elected officials so the voices of people with IDD and their parents and siblings are heard.”

What issues will continue to be important in the 2019 Session?
“We will always have our eye on reducing the waitlist so people get the right services at the right time. We will be looking at the settings rule and how that is implemented in Colorado. The Arc of Colorado’s work is not done. We will be working with our partners to ensure all of the rules and the promulgation of those rules are informed by the collective experience of the 14 Chapters across the state.

What is your vision for policy issues in the coming year?
“I am looking forward to a statewide listening tour this summer to identify the issues that are at the top of mind for local Chapters. The listening tour will begin in June and go through August. It is a road show to: the Arc Chapters, legislators’ offices in their home turf, partners such as HCPF and the Department of Human Services. We want to understand what their priorities are and how we can all work together in identifying the issues that will have most promise in the 2019 session.”

What is your vision for the future of the Arc of Colorado?
“I think we are unique in lots of different ways. We are part of a national movement, a movement that mirrors what we have organically created in Colorado. Parents, families, people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and siblings have a strong voice. That voice is echoed throughout every state.  We are part of a chorus. What happens at the federal level has implications at the state level. The Arc of Colorado will always have one leg in the federal world and one in the local sphere statewide. We have Chapters working at the municipal and county levels and the way all of those things roll up together is powerful in social justice movements. It is a tremendous asset. I hope the Arc of Colorado can be a depository for social justice and the stories that come from that.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Arc of Colorado Executive Director Hails Wins of 2018 Sessions appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

An Interview with Catherine Strode

The high school graduation rates in Colorado of foster youth trend significantly lower than those of the general population. A bill has passed the House that would permit students in out-of-home placement to stay in their school of origin instead of moving to a different school when placed outside of the home. House Bill 18-1306 is sponsored by State Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet.

In an interview with Catherine Strode, Representative Michaelson Jenet says the bill addresses what has been identified as the most challenging issue facing foster youth: their high dropout and low graduation rate. The bill she has sponsored is designed to improve these rates by keeping foster youth in stable educational environments.

What problem does this bill address?
“House Bill 18-1306 is designed specifically to help our foster youth be successful in graduating from high school. Our general public has a four-year graduation rate of about 79 percent, which is pretty spectacular. In 2016, our foster youth had a 33 percent four-year graduation rate. In 2017, our foster youth had a 23 percent four-year graduation rate. What we are seeing is that number is continuing to decline. One of the ways we know how to help our students stay on track for graduation, is that they stay in their home school. Their home school is what they were in before being moved into the foster system. Maybe their sibling is in that school, or, they have a close relationship with a teacher or a counselor in that school. The student is able to stay where they are known, where they have some ties. They are more likely to graduate on time.”

I look at our foster youth, and our youth who are incarcerated, as our children. We fight for these children. What this is at the basic core is: somebody’s got to advocate for these kids.

—Colorado State Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet, House District 30

What does the bill do?
“The bill directs the Colorado General Assembly to assign money to send to the counties to use as they wish to pay for the transportation of the foster youth to their school. For example, a child in Denver might get adopted into a family in Commerce City. We want to keep the child in the school in Denver. We have to figure out how to pay for that transportation. We can’t expect the foster family to be able to afford that or do that. This (bill) will pay for that transportation.”

What is the Fiscal Note on the bill?
“We’re looking at a $1.9 million fiscal note. It keeps being amended. It was $3.9 million. We anticipate the funds will be split between the General Assembly of the House and the Senate. We both have our own budgets set aside for bills. The House and the Senate will split it.”

How do credits transfer?
“Credit transfers are a bill challenge because different schools have different requirements for graduation. They also weight their classes differently. We had one student testify that she kept being set back. It took her seven years to get through high school because the schools didn’t accept her credits. We don’t want to see that happening. We are asking the schools to look at the transcripts of the foster youth and be able to evaluate them so they can take the classes they need but that they are not starting from ground zero every time. It doesn’t spell it out. The school districts have to figure it out for themselves. Our school districts don’t like to be told exactly what to do. It is not our business. It is their business. We ask them to accept a certain amount of credits. Then they figure out how they are going to do it.”

Why is this issue important to you?
“My work is youth and suicide prevention. Our foster youth die by suicide far more than our general population. They also end up incarcerated far more than our general population of youth. Youth incarceration is something I am very passionate about. They also struggle with mental illness that goes undetected and untreated. To me, it’s how do we look at the youth and get them the supports they need all the way across the board? It’s not only in mental health. It’s not only in keeping them out of jail. It’s all of these pieces that go along the path. Number one is: if we can possibly keep you in a place where somebody knows you, and you like somebody, and you have a relationship. If your home life is unstable but we can keep your school life stable, how much value can we give to a child? That can stop them from dying by suicide. That can stop them from ending up incarcerated. That can stop them from dropping out of school. That can put them on the path to a successful life. If we can set them up with some sort of stability in relationships, they might be in a position to not be alone when they are out of the system.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post School Stability To Improve Foster Youth Graduation Rates appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

An Interview with Catherine Strode

State Representative Jonathan Singer (House District 11) is sponsoring a bill to investigate allegations of abuse of children/youth in out-of-home placement and under the continuing jurisdiction of the court. House Bill 18-1346 offers protections for youth under the age of 21 from institutional child abuse. The bill is a direct outcome of the state’s 2017 shutdown of El Pueblo, a treatment center for youth. Children at the Center gave reports of being starved and abused.

In an interview with Catherine Strode, Representative Singer who is a former social worker says he is committed to making sure all youth in Colorado’s systems are treated fairly. This, he says, is not a partisan issue.

What problem does this bill address?
“House Bill 18-1346 is to make sure we protect our more vulnerable youth. When I say youth, it is not just people under the age of 18. In our Youth Services System, kids are in our custody up through the age of 21. The bill says every person who is in our Youth Services System regardless of their age, if harm has come to them, our county departments need to investigate. Right now, when anyone under the age of 18 has been abused, mistreated, or neglected in our Youth Services System, our county Human Services Departments investigate to make sure those kids are being treated properly. After the age of 18, that line wasn’t there. Some counties would investigate. Some counties would throw up their hands and say, ‘They are adults. We’re not going to investigate.’ The problem we are trying to solve is to ensure when kids are mistreated in our Youth Services System (whether they are 18, 16, or 20) we make sure they are being treated properly and not being abused, not being neglected.”

Why is there a need for the bill now?
“We heard of an awful situation at El Pueblo where kids were neglected, abused. People who were experiencing mental health crises were left to their own devices. Kids literally suffering, in horrible situations. They were picking off their own skin and eating it. They were not being treated the way they should be; their problems were not being addressed the way they should be. Fortunately, we have shut down those agencies. Ultimately, our own state Department of Human Services started to look at the problem and said, ‘Our law isn’t clear. Some of our counties are unsure of the law as well.’ They know if a 16-year-old is getting hurt in our system, our counties need to investigate. What they weren’t sure of was if that person was 18, 19, or 21, whether they should use the same safeguards. This bill just makes it very clear that it is for everybody, regardless of their age.”

What youth populations will this bill impact the most?
“A lot of kids in our Youth Services System that have committed crimes are children/youth that: have experienced mental health episodes, have tough family environments, or have experienced some sort of traumatic brain injury. These are children/youth with disabilities, whether they are physical or, more than likely, psychological. More often than not, the children in our Youth Corrections System are people of color, minorities, and from economically disadvantaged environments. They don’t have the same resources in terms of parents that can hire lawyers to stick up for them and make sure they are treated fairly and equally. Last year, we changed the name of our Youth Corrections System to our Youth Services System. The reason we did that is because we’re not training kids to be better prisoners. We are training them to be adults, and citizens, and taxpayers. If we are actually going to do that, our job shouldn’t be to treat them like prisoners. It should be to treat them like kids who need help. What they have done is serious but our response needs to be age appropriate. That is the whole crux of what we are trying to do as a state: to move away from creating better criminals and move towards actually creating people who are better citizens.”

Where do you draw your passion from for this issue?
“I was a social worker before I did this. I worked in our Youth Services System. I worked with kids that were going through our juvenile courts, kids that had been abused and neglected by their families. You could see how the rules of the game were often written by the people that were least affected by them. I chose to take this job so I can cut through the red tape, write the rules of the game the way they should be for our kids. It has been a personal passion for me since 2012: to make sure every kid gets a fair shot at a good life. As a state, we are trying to find ways to keep kids out of the system. It’s expensive. We know the results aren’t always the best. When they are in the system, I think it’s really important we provide every resource to ensure they can get out of that system to save the taxpayers money and to make sure they get a fair shake.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

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Denver Public Schools, the Division of Youth Corrections and the Division of Human Services all own a piece of Ridge View Academy. Ridge View Academy is a youth correction facility located in Weld County. The correction facility is in a remote area and is surrounded by fields. The facility does not have a barbed wire fence, rather the youth understand if they run they will be sent to a more secure correction facility. Ridge View houses the Denver Public Schools charter school Rite of Passage. The charter school was approved by Denver Public Schools Board of Education over a decade ago. The partnership between Denver Public Schools and the Division of Youth Corrections provides new meaning to the school-to-prison pipeline.

There are two ways that a youth can be placed at Ridge View Academy. The most obvious is the youth has been charged and convicted of a crime and that youth is sentenced to the correction facility. There is a second group of youth housed in the same facility: foster children. The Division of Human Services Child Protection Services is charged with keeping children safe. When Human Services removes a child from home because of abuse or neglect, if they do not have a foster home for the child age 12 and older, they are assigned to Ridge View Academy. The correction facility has “empty beds” and facility staff assert that they try to keep foster children separate from incarcerated youth but all youth are educated in the same classroom.

This advocate sat in a meeting where the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) for a child discussed the dilemma of whether it was safe for the child to remain in the home. The GAL wasn’t certain that any residential therapeutic treatment facility would have an opening and/or accept the child. The third option presented was to remove the child from the home, knowing that Ridge View Academy is the only facility that has an ample number of beds and will not refuse youth assigned by the justice system or Child Protection Services. In this case, the child (significant mental health and trauma) was removed from the home, sent to a residential (mental health) facility program; upon release from the program the child, now a teen, was sent to Ridge View Academy. After this youth spent some time at Ridge View Academy, Human Services admitted they had nowhere else to send this teen. Therefore, they returned the teen to the same home from which he was removed.

AdvocacyDenver offered Denver Public Schools and Denver Human Services the opportunity to respond to our questions about policies with youth and foster care children at Ridgeview Academy. Interviews were conducted with Joe Homlar, Denver Human Services Deputy Executive Director for Prevention and Protection and Kent Moe, the Executive Director of Denver Public School’s Charter School Rite of Passage. All of the interviews were conducted by AdvocacyDenver’s Catherine Strode.

Joe Homlar, Deputy Executive Director, Protection and Prevention Services/Denver Human Services

Are Division of Youth Correction and Denver Human Services foster care children housed together?
“When we receive concerns about a child who may be in danger, unsafe in their living environment, that’s something we look into and make plans with families to address and remedy. That is the majority of the work we do. There are situations, however, where we make determinations with courts. The same judges who work with kids in our juvenile delinquency system are the same judges who work with our families who experience abuse issues at home. All of those judges are working with our Department, with families, with guardians, to make sure the child’s best interest is served. Through the juvenile justice system, a child is adjudicated in a civil finding because of a delinquency issue they are struggling with. Through the traditional child welfare system, the same civil finding of an adjudication and a finding that the child requires an out of home placement. The children at Rites of Passage have a significant clinical issue. There are symptoms that are related to behavioral issues, to violence, to aggression and acting out. Our goal is to provide the clinical treatment they require and then get them back to a lower level of care. That’s what we want to see. That’s what families and courts want to see. Sometimes there may be a step down in the continuum of care to a foster care setting. Kent runs a facility that provides a specific clinical service to children that require that need based on our assessment, assessments from courts, as well as assessments to make sure a child is a good fit for Rites of Passage.“

What safety measures are in place to protect vulnerable children?
“Caseworkers visit at least monthly with children that are placed at Rites of Passage. They meet with kids privately to talk about how things are going and to talk about the plan to move forward. The caseworkers are required to report back regularly with courts, with other stakeholders, with parents, to make sure folks are up to speed with how the treatment is progressing, how they’re doing in the facility. They check to make sure every day, every week, every month, they are receiving the benefits of Rites of Passage. “

What is the Division of Human Services doing to grow the number of foster care homes in the community?
“We have independent recruitment efforts going on in Denver Human Services. There are twice monthly information sessions for anyone that wants to learn more about providing care, whether that’s the group home level, or foster care level. We can provide them certification for being a foster parent or we can link them with resources in the community as certified child placement agencies. Our Department is having a focused effort around our foster care recruitment efforts. There will be more directed media pushes. The state is also having a number of targeted efforts as well. We are always looking to talk with families in Denver, and even outside of Denver, about their interest in providing care for children. The number is 720-944-4000 to find out more about foster care.

Kent Moe, Executive Director of Rite of Passage

How many of the youth at Ridge View Academy are identified as having a disability under IDEA?
“Ridgeview is a Denver Public Schools charter. We are ranked very high as an alternative education campus. For what we have identified as special education, our count is between 75 and 80 students total. About 35 per cent of the kids have special education needs. They have an IEP (Individualized Education Program).”

Are Division of Youth Correction and Denver Human Services foster care children educated in the same classroom?
“We know placing kids without delinquent behaviors with delinquent behaviors causes the kids without to get worse. That’s what we try to avoid at all costs. We don’t want to make kids worse. Our job is to help them. When they’re referred to us, we assess their needs. Typically, there are behavioral needs. Virtually all of those kids have been adjudicated for a delinquent act. That’s the reason we get kids referred to us. Therefore, they need to be placed out of the home to deal with whatever that is.”

How are the students assigned to classrooms?
“We have a registrar that evaluates their transcripts. We have a placement test. We use measures of academic progress, map testing, to identify where a student falls in terms of their developmental level. We have remedial English classes and advanced ones. We look at their transcripts from the sending school and make sure they are placed into a class that fits for them.”

What is the range of ages of foster care youth, assigned to beds at Ridge View Academy?
“The range of ages is 14 to 18. The population also fluctuates. At any given time, the maximum would be 18 to 20 kids.”

What is the typical academic schedule for a student?
“We provide about seven and a half hours of academic rigor each day: math, English, history, reading, science, and health. Then, they have electives. Kids that present needs have remediation alternatives for them. We provide career and technical education every day to each kid. We have extracurricular activities through CHSSAA (Colorado High School Activities Association) so kids can play sports or do community service, normal things every high schooler has to do.”

What mental health services are provided to the foster care youth to mitigate trauma?
“We are a Trauma-Informed care facility. There’s an assessment done at the very beginning to measure the degree to which a child is traumatized. There is a daily and weekly regiment of coping skills, therapy, group interventions, and individual (interventions) as well. Each week, each student gets prescriptive treatment related to their diagnosis or to their needs. Those things look primarily like cognitive behavioral interventions that tie to whatever risk they present. You’re talking about trying to get the student to understand the thought/ behavioral link. That’s what evidence has shown to be the best intervention. We do group and individual therapy, prescriptive to the child’s presented needs.”

How long is a foster care child’s average stay?
“Kids placed with Ridgeview by the Department of Human Services are with us for five months or less.”

What safety measures are in place to protect vulnerable children?
“24-hour surveillance. A trauma informed environment. A variety of mechanisms for kids to have a voice, to tell an adult, if they encounter something that isn’t right there. We have a very rich staff to student ratio, both in the day and in the night. It’s eight to one during the day, at a minimum; and it is 16 to one at night, at a minimum. There are 24-hour ‘awake’ people at their disposal.”

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Dr. David Houchins is recognized as one of the country’s leading researchers in juvenile justice reform and academic strategies for at-risk youth. He was recently a featured speaker at a local conference addressing the ‘school to prison’ pipeline, defined by the American Civil Liberties Union as practices that drive kids from the classroom into the criminal justice system.

Now a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at Georgia State University, Dr. Houchins formerly taught high school and middle school students. In an interview with Catherine Strode, Dr. Houchins shares his thoughts on how to impact school expulsion rates and in doing so, impact the school to prison pipeline.

What is the statistical overview of the US prison youth population?

“Two million youth are incarcerated on an annual basis in the US. Of those who are incarcerated, nearly 34 to 70 per cent have some kind of disability. The majority have some kind of learning disability. The greatest number has emotional behavioral disabilities. About 70 per cent have at least three or more mental health disabilities, comorbid issues: substance abuse, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression. Those are the individuals that end up in the school to prison pipeline, the population that ends up in the juvenile justice system.”

What disparities are reflected in the school to prison pipeline?

“It’s the problem of kids who are most disenfranchised who get caught up in a system where their needs are not met within the school or in the social network they have. The disparities actually start in the beginning of school, where preschool kids are suspended or expelled for behaviors that should be addressed in the school system. In preschool, kids get suspended in disproportionate populations. Minority populations, those from the LGBTQ community disproportionately receive suspension more often or are expelled from schools. Kids with disabilities are two to three times more likely to be suspended in public schools: kids who have EBD (emotional and behavioral disorders), learning disabilities, kids who have different behavioral issues. Certain populations may not have access to families that teach them basic skills so they are dealing with language issues which causes reading problems. They continue to be behind which causes behavior problems which leads to being suspended at earlier rates than other kids.”

Why do kids with disabilities form a large percentage of the juvenile justice population?

“The theories of why kids with disabilities end up in the juvenile justice system are: school issues (school failure); and susceptibility (characteristics individuals with disabilities may have and how they’re interpreted). Behaviors the individual exhibits may lead some to believe they’re being a behavioral problem when in reality they are just being who they are. It’s those characteristics that combine to create circumstances for the school to prison pipeline. Kids with disabilities may have language disabilities. Kids who have those language issues are at a greater loss. They get into the system where they are continuously behind in, say as one example, reading. When they get farther behind, they get more frustrated. It’s so frustrating that it leads to the behavioral problem which leads to the suspension which leads to incarceration eventually.”

What do you propose needs to be done in the school?

“It’s not just the school. Schools play a key role but not the only role. It’s a complex issue. It’s multiple factors: the school, the individual, the aspects of the family, It’s really the pathway to prison versus the school (pipeline.) There are lots of components to the pathway. It can be viewed as if the school is just the problem. It may be part of the problem but it’s also part of the solution. School can be one of the best places where good things can happen for kids to stop the pathway to prison. I think diversion programs are an alternative to suspension and expulsion, doing more of restorative kind of practices instead of just going toward suspension or expulsion. Maybe alternatives to that happen within the school system. Think about how you can work with those who have been harmed and those who have done the harming. It can be a more collective, inclusive, collaborative school setting.”

What can we offer our teachers to impact the school to prison pipeline?

“Good programs based on the Council for Exceptional Children’s principles and provide intensive instruction. You should be a master teacher when you’re a special education teacher because you really have to be able to collaborate with adults, collaborate with families. You have to know how to provide individualized services within a larger structure of a general education classroom, behavioral principles of how to work with kids. True usage of PBIS (positive behavioral intervention supports) in a school system, where you have tiered instruction from universal all the way up to tertiary kinds of practices where it gets much more individual as you go along. Using ABA (applied behavior analysis) in schools: how you work with kids (particularly kids who are on the autism spectrum and the behaviors they have in school), having teachers being able to address many of those issues. Working with them to be able to develop positive student teacher relationships. Social emotional learning within schools programs can change how kids learn, improve their learning, and make it a better and safer classroom at the same time.”

Is this an issue to which there is a solution?

“We have solutions. We know a lot about evidence-based practices. If we implement as many evidence-based practices as we can, academic, social, behavioral, social emotional learning, we can save the youth. We have the tools to be able to do it. It’s multiple tools, multiple agencies, multiple components that come together: mental health practices, social services, all integrated to be able to solve the issue. We have the solutions but we have to be willing to put all those aspects together.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

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