1. Erin Davies, Executive Director Juvenile Justice Coalition
Staying in School: School-based reforms to keep youth out of the Court System
Erin Davies, Executive Director
Juvenile Justice Coalition

2. Trends: school-based reforms
Bill
Topic
Passed
HB 410
Truancy reform, data collection, and school discipline.
December 2016
SB 246
School discipline, teacher training, and funding for school climate grants.
July 2018 (in HB 318)
HB 318
School resource officers and school safety grants.
July 2018

3. Why school reforms matter to courts

4. School-to-prison pipeline
How do students go from schools to the courts?
Students arrested on school property during school or a sponsored event. (64, students nationwide in )
Charges filed or law enforcement referrals for behavior at school (i.e. fighting). (nearly 250k students nationwide in )
Suspensions and expulsions: Students less likely to be supervised, be less academically engaged, and drop out of school – all of which can lead to increased likelihood of court involvement.
Truancy charges.
Once involved in the system, hard to get out.

5. School-to-prison pipeline
Things to keep in mind:
The vast majority of Ohio suspensions and expulsions are for minor behaviors (i.e. disobedient and disruptive behavior), not violence or weapons.
Despite data showing that students violate rules and offend at similar rates, suspensions, expulsions, arrests, and referrals disproportionately impact certain students, including students of color, students ho live in low-income households, students with disabilities, and students who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Students referred from schools may divert limited court resources (i.e. truancy charges, charges for things that may not have been filed if it happened outside of school).

6. Why Reform?: Aligning Best and Current Practice
Research-Based Best
Practice
Current
Practice

7. Ideal: Current Practice = Best Practice
Current Practices Align with Research-Based Best Practices

8. Reality: Current and Best Practices Overlap
Research-Based Best Practices
Current Practice
What does that mean for young people?

9. When Current and Best Practices Don’t Align:

10. Aligning Current with Best Practice:
What does the research say?
What best practices advance the research?
How does our current practice align with the research and best practices?
How do we move our current practices to be more aligned with research and best practice?
How do we measure the outcomes of this practice change?

11. Overall Research Tenants
Research shows that we – as adults – must respond to youth in a way that:
Ensures the consequences match the event and not overrespond (particularly to typical adolescent behavior).
Addresses the underlying reasons why the youth is acting out by providing community-based, effective responses.
Align resources to support these goals.

12. HB 410: Truancy

13. What Did HB 410 do? Modified Ohio’s laws on: Truancy School discipline
Define truancy and school discipline – before we get into how, I want to cover why HB 410.

14. What is truancy?
Ohio Revised Code § (B)(19): Definition of habitual truant
Any child of compulsory school age who is absent without legitimate excuse from the public school the child is supposed to attend for:
30 or more consecutive school hours
42 or more school hours in one school month
72 or more school hours in a school year.

15. What is the research on truancy?
Research shows that missing school can lead to:
Diminished academic performance for that student and other students in the school
Higher likelihood of out-of-school suspension and expulsion
Increased likelihood of juvenile court involvement
Higher likelihood of dropping out, which can result in increased adult court involvement, decreased lifetime earnings, less stable employment, and increased reliance on social programs at taxpayer expense – an average cost of up to $800,000/youth.
All of this points to the need to work to keep students engaged in school.

16. Truancy: Prior Law
If a student missed a certain number of school days, the school could either 1) intervene with that student OR 2) refer the student to the juvenile court system for formal processing.
Students were suspended and expelled 6,000 times in the for truancy alone. Number of juvenile court truancy cases unknown.
When referred the juvenile court, the student would typically be ordered to return to school. If the student didn’t go back to school, they would be violating a court order and subject to more serious punishment.

17. Truancy: Post HB 410
Created a new process for youth who are missing school.
Prohibited students from being suspended or expelled for missing school
Created pilot project for more collaborative intervention teams.
Data collection

18. Truancy process: Post HB 410
School must notify the parent within 7 days that youth is not attending school
School immediately can begin to intervene.
If the student passes the habitual truancy mark, the student must be assigned to an absence intervention team that develops an intervention plan designed for that student.
If, after 60 days, the student is still missing school or hasn’t made substantial progress on the plan, school can file in juvenile court.
Court must consider an alternative, like diversion.
Formal complaint is only considered as last resort.

19. Truancy pilot program Purpose: Expanded absence intervention teams.
Effective for the and school years.
Voluntary by district and must be diverse (at least 2 urban, 1 suburban/mid-sized, 1 rural)
Run by Ohio Family and Children First Cabinet, which will develop an application, screen applicants, and collect data.

20. Number of Youth Statewide
Truancy Data
Collected by 70% of courts (62 courts)
79% success rate of youth placed in adjudication alternatives
Statewide:
Habitual Truancy Case Status
Number of Youth Statewide
Placed in adjudication alternative
3660
Successful completion
2881
Unsuccessful/Formal Charge
762

21. School Discipline

22. Ohio school discipline statistics:
Each year Ohio students receive 200,000 out-of-school suspensions or expulsions. Of these suspensions and expulsions:
More than half are for disobedient and disruptive behavior – not for fighting, weapons, or other violent behavior.
Impact certain students, including students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQ students, and students in low-income households, more.
36,000 are given to students in grades pre-K-third grade.
All of this points to the need to work to keep students engaged in school.

23. What is the research on school discipline?
Similar to truancy, exclusionary school discipline can lead to:
Increased likelihood of juvenile court involvement, particularly due to a lack of positive role models, supervision, and vulnerability to negative influences while away from school.
Higher likelihood of dropping out.
Overall more negative climate for school and other students, including lower academic achievement.
All of this points to the need to work to keep students engaged in school.

24. School Discipline: Post-HB 410
The State Board of Education developed a model school discipline code that “stresses preventative strategies and alternatives to suspension or expulsion.”
Students allowed to make up work while suspended or expelled.
Eliminated carry-over suspensions.

25. HB 318 – Passed July 2018
Modifies requirements for School Resource Officers (SROs)
Promotes positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS)
Provides $14 million in grants to schools, including $12 million for school safety training and $2 million in competitive grants to improve school climates.

26. HB 318 – School Discipline
Limits when students in pre-K through 3rd grade can be suspended or expelled to:
For 1) bringing a firearm/ knife capable of causing serious bodily harm, 2) a bomb threat, or 3) committing an offense that causes serious physical harm to another person/property.
Only as necessary to protect immediate health/ safety concerns of the child or others.
Whenever possible after consulting with a mental health professional. If mental health challenges seem to be the underlying reason for the student’s behavior, the school must help the parent/guardian in accessing services.
Phased in through the school year

27. HB 318 – Positive school climate
Includes PBIS on annual school report cards.
Creates a new K-12 teacher preparation standard for classroom management.
Continues learning opportunities during suspensions.
$2 million in competitive grants to support 1) implementation of PBIS and/or 2) evidence- and research-based social and emotional learning.

28. School Safety

29. School Safety Research on school safety:
Punitive approaches to school safety – such as investments in hardware (i.e. metal detectors, cameras, gun lockers) – can actually make schools and students feel less safe.
SROs can escalate situations, increase the number of youth referred to the courts (particularly students of color), and damage community-police relations.
FBI and Secret Service recommend threat training and protocol, not more law enforcement in schools.

30. School Safety - #counselorsnotcuffs
Supported by over 20 organizations, including:
Teachers
Students
Parents
Research-based expert organizations.

31. School Safety - #counselorsnotcuffs
Core principles: To improve school safety, schools should:
Use research-based approaches to prevent violence in schools altogether, including:
Improving school climate
Establishing threat training and protocol
Providing effective student supports – like routine access to licensed and trained mental health and addiction prevention and treatment services and professionals, such as counselors, nurses, and social
Have emergency plans with law enforcement agencies in place when a rare incident does occur, not as a daily presence in schools.

32. HB 318 – School resource officers (sROs)
Creates a standard definition of SRO
Requires schools with SROs to have Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the law enforcement agency that defines the SRO’s roles, qualifications, and protocol for dealing with discipline.
Requires new SROs to undergo specialized training for 40 hours

33. HB 318 – School Safety Grants
Can be used for:
Certification and training for School Resource Officers (SROs) (who are subject to new requirements as outlined in the HB 318 summary above).*
Active shooter and school safety training.*
All grade level type educational resources.*
Training to identify and assist students with mental health issues.
Any other school safety training.*

34. HB 318 – School Safety Grants
Distribution: Formula basis – per pupil.
Timeline:
Applications due November 1, 2018 for the October July 2019
Final grant report due 2019

35. HB 318 – School Safety Grants
#counselorsnotcuffs campaign recommendations:
Threat response
Restorative practices
Student supports, including trauma-informed interventions