Meeting Report
PRESENT: Chair, Cindy
Chavez, Vice Char, George Shirakawa, Jr. Councilmember Pat Dando, Councilmember
Ken Yeager
ABSENT: George Shirakawa, Jr.
STAFF: Jim Holgerson, Norm Sato,
Jim Norman, Zulma Maciel
The
meeting was convened at 1:35 P.M.
a. Youth Commission Monthly Report (Parks,
Recreation and Neighborhood Services).
The report was accepted with two (2) members
present.
Upon motion of Chair Cindy Chavez, second by
Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted the staff report.
b.
San José BEST Update (Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services).
Jim Norman introduced
Zulma Maciel to give the presentation (attached) on the BEST Truancy Program.
Zulma
stated that Officer Tom Messier, from the west-side TABS (Truancy Abatement
Burglary Suppression) center was present to answer any questions after the
presentation. The presentation was to
answer questions raised at the June ENYS meeting regarding the truancy
reduction efforts and whether or not the City is making an impact in San José
schools. Zulma said there is clearly a
tie between attendance and how successful youngsters are in school. A continuum of truancy services was
basically developed in 1997 by a policy team of Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task
Force. Out of that Task Force came the
Truancy Abatement Collaborative. There
are three different areas in this continuum that need to have specific types of
programming in order to resolve some of these issues. The first pieces of prevention are Homework Centers citywide, the
LEARNS (Learning, Education, Arts, Recreation, Nurturing Services) program,
SAGE (School Age Programs and other educational enrichment programs. The second targets truant youth that are
funded either by San José BEST or CDBG (Community Development Block
Grant). The third and last thing that
we do not want to resort to is prosecution of parents.
Zulma
stated the slide on safety was to show burglaries, as the TABS center was
originally intended to suppress incidences of burglaries and crimes during
school hours. From 1980 to 2000, there
were 76% fewer residential burglaries during school hours. In the year 2000, juveniles perpetrated 20%
of the burglaries.
This
year San José BEST’s goal is see how we promote school success - now that you
have them in their seats, in the classroom, what is the next step. There is a need to encourage success by -
A
Truancy Abatement Collaborative retreat will be held in November 2001 to
address the above items.
Councilmember
Pat Dando stated we always want more for our young people. We want them to stay in classes so they can
become productive citizens and we are still losing about $15 million a year on
ADA There are loses that are even greater, and that is with our young
people. When youngsters are not in
school, sometimes they are being victimized as well. We still do not have the formula for school success, we can pick
up children and take them back to school, but we are not getting to the root of
what it is that keeps that child truant.
We continually talk about the need for investment into our young people
and to schools and with all the programs available; we still cannot measure
school success.
Councilmember
Ken Yeager requested information for all school districts. He also requested the numbers by schools. If
they are high in a particular school a meeting can be convened with staff and
schools to work on truancy at that micro-level. Elias Chamorro, Director of Attendance for Eastside Union High
School District, stated that truancy in the County is defined as three
unexcused absences or more, 6 or more unexcused absences is called a habitual
truant. Councilmember Yeager requested that in cases where the truancy rate is
high, crime reports be made available for their review. He also inquired that if a student is truant
where they likely would be, i.e., in their own neighborhood, on the corner by
the school, miles away, or does it vary.
Ms. Baer responded by explaining that the vast number of truants is in
the elementary schools, especially in kindergarten and first grade, due to the
complexity of what is going on in the home.
What she is hoping for is some kind of a community outreach educational
awareness campaign to let parents know that school attendance is not a
choice. Mr. Chamorro explained that
most of the truants go to shopping centers; some to other teenagers’ homes
whose parents are both working, and some remain by the school. He also stated
that once we get the truants back to school, the students need some sort of
success in school.
Chair
Chavez said it would be important to reestablish the City’s goals in the
discussion around truancy. The reason being that our relationship with the
schools is ever changing. I think this
would be a worthy discussion for the Committee to have, separate from all the
programs we are working on. What is it
we are trying to accomplish and then stepping back and looking at some of the
key programs? When the overall list of
objectives are viewed, where does truancy fall in the objectives. When truancy
is pulled out as an issue, then you question if SAGE is really having the
impact we want it to have on these particular problems. I know that the Digital
Divide Discussion will lead us to redefine and redevelop our Youth Master Plan.
Reviewing the Youth Master Plan should be done in a Study Session format. By doing this, all the Council will then be
able to do something very similar to what was done when we looked at the
Redevelopment Agency. A list was made
of projects/issues the Agency was working on and the Council prioritized where
the City should be using their resources.
Chair
Chavez said that one of her apprehensions has been that we, as a community,
have not pinpointed where we want to expend our energy and money and to what
end. Every youngster that is brought
back to school gives the school district more revenue so we have to figure out
a way to revenue share in a way that allows us to get to the root of these
problem.
Chair
Chavez questioned if there is a uniform procedure for all police officers in
the handling of
truants. Would the officers know
automatically to take them to TABS? She
stated she had heard from some of the non-profits that this is not the
case. Officer Messier reported that
officers know when picking up truants, they either take them back to school
directly or through the TABS center.
Zula stated there is a monthly Truancy Abatement Collaborative meeting
and the non-profit organizations can attend with to voice their concerns.
Councilmember
Dando reiterated that there is a need to redefine the goals on truancy; what we
are trying to accomplish is key and with the profiles on the students we will
know the person we are trying to help.
If we can obtain this information; by district as Councilmember Yeager
suggested, there will be ten advocates with more ownership knowing the students
and specific issues for their schools.
Public outreach would then be the next step.
Upon
motion of Councilmember Pat Dando and seconded by Councilmember Ken Yeager, the
Committee accepted the staff report with the following directives to staff:
A
report for each Council District with the following information:
This
report shall be returned to the Education, Neighborhood and Youth Services
Committee on November 19 and to Council on December 4.
c.
Skate Park Update (Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services).
Jim Norman stated that
the difficult decision will not be the issues of cost and locations for the
skate parks, but where funding will be obtained and the size of the parks. Do we have ten smaller parks or two larger
and several smaller ones? In polling the skaters, both local and statewide, the
most “fun and effective parks” are the larger parks.
Upon motion of
Councilmember Dando, seconded by Councilmember Yeager, the Committee accepted
the staff report.
d. Oral Petitions
None
e. Adjournment
The Committee adjourned at 3:05 p.m.
Councilmember Cindy Chavez, Chair
Education, Neighborhoods, Youth and Seniors Committee