1.426 Educational Personnel

All teaching and school-based social service support personnel should be provided with preservice training on the law and procedures governing matters subject to the jurisdiction of the family court; local and state groups and agencies providing services to juveniles and their families; causes of delinquency and family conflict; the most common educational problems involving youth in the local community; personal and family crisis intervention techniques; ethnic and cultural and minority relations within the community; and the types, causes, and methods of handling disruptive behavior and poor performance in the classroom.

Inservice education programs should be provided to all educational personnel to assure that they are aware of changes in law and educational policies and programs as well as the current findings regarding specialized educational processes to assist troubled youth. Educational personnel should periodically visit programs and facilities providing services to troubled youths.

Sources:

See generally National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Report of the Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Standard 3.18 (1976) [hereinafter cited as Report of the Task Force].

Commentary

This standard seeks to provide teachers with programs that will give them relevant "real world" information for and about juveniles to be incorporated into the teaching process. The White House Conference on Children has reported:

The school is second only to the parents in influencing a child's character and personality, in preparing him to live in and with his environment, and in determining what kind of an adolescent he will become . . . There must be relevance between what is taught and how the child lives and his projected way of life. The White House Conference on children, Report to the President, 394 (1971) [hereinafter cited as Report to the President] (emphasis added). The training recommended in this standard is intended to assist the teacher in bringing home to his/her students how their schooling is-or can be-personally meaningful to them, as well as to inform teachers about some of the special problems of juveniles, including the problem of juvenile delinquency. Since students' personal, social, and legal problems can intrude into the classroom and frustrate

learning, teachers inevitably become involved in such problems. See Report to the President, supra. The training recommended in this standard should also help teachers minimize disruptions of the learning process and to more effectively counsel troubled students.

The preservice training recommended here will assist teachers in identifying and dealing with juveniles who are currently or who may become involved with the juvenile justice system. "[A] teacher may be supportive and lead the student toward solutions; or they may compound problems by responding inappropriately." Report of the Task Force, supra at Standard 3.18 and Commentary. In order to prevent inappropriate responses by teachers to student problems, the text of this standard specifies broad categories of valuable information for inclusion in preservice teacher training. The information provided should also help teachers to identify, anticipate, and prevent student delinquency problemshopefully before the delinquent act occurs.

The inservice programs required here should help assure teacher awareness of new developments in educational policies and programs, and of special programs to assist juveniles with particular problems.

Educational personnel should also be encouraged to visit diverse programs and facilities other than school-based programs to inform them of the range of possible solutions to particular problems. If contact is made between teacher and student about a problem, a teacher's inability to suggest alternatives could lead to feelings of frustration on the part of the student; in effect, all the teacher's preservice training and background are of little help in guiding the student if no real alternatives can be devised to help the youth. Both inservice teacher training, and teacher visits to various special nonschool programs, should suggest alternative solutions to student problems. The teacher could then choose to meet the problem either by creating new or ad hoc school programs, or through student participation in an existing off-campus program.

Both formal training programs and visits to nonschool facilities can help minimize misdiagnosis by teachers of student problems. It will not help a student if an organic learning disability is diagnosed as an "attitude" problem. This standard specifically provides for continuing education of teachers about new findings and methods of special education, and about changes in law and educational policies and programs. The "legal" component of such continuing teacher education should include special training with regard to eligibility for obtaining student access into suitable special educational programs—including training about the purposes

1.427 Planning Personnel

All planning personnel working with the juvenile service system should be provided with training on the law and procedures governing matters subject to the jurisdiction of the family court and the policies established for those of the family court and the policies established for those matters by the local law enforcement agencies and agencies responsible for intake and protective services; the local and state groups and agencies providing services to juveniles and their families; causes of delinquency and family conflict; the most common legal problems involving youth in the local community; and particular planning methods, procedures, and activities unique to the organization and community.

Inservice education programs should be provided to all planning personnel to assure that they are aware of changes in the law, policy, and programs of the state and local community; preparation for new tasks and program settings; periodic visits to programs and facilities providing services to youth; community organization; proposal and grant development; new methods and findings in juvenile service planning, research, evaluation, coordination, and dissemination of information to the public.

Sources:

See generally National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Report of the Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Standard 2.2 (1976) [hereinafter cited as Report of the Task Force].

Commentary

This standard recommends that planning personnel within the juvenile justice system should be provided with preservice training and with inservice education programs. Existing programs have been developed by planners in accord with existing laws, policies, procedures, and other factors. Planners must be told when such factors change so that programs will conform to new laws, policies, etc., and so that programs will be relevant to the current goals of the juvenile justice system. The training programs recommended by this standard must therefore provide a continuous, systematic means of conveying current relevant information to program planners.

Since planners plan for people, planning cannot and should not go on in an ivory tower. Planners should know as much as possible about the people and the systems for which they plan.

Accordingly, this standard provides planners with mechanisms for achieving and maintaining a broad prespective about community opinions, resources, and programs. Accord, Report of the Task Force, supra at Commentary to Standard 2.2. Planners need current information about local and state groups and agencies providing services to juveniles, about changes in policy, about state, local, public, and private programs, about community organizations, about the common legal problems of juveniles in localities for which they plan, and about planning methods, procedures, and research. This standard specifically requires both preservice and inservice training and education for planners in each of these

areas.

The collection of the information which this standard recommends should be conveyed to planners will inevitably bring planners into direct contact with diverse groups within the community. Under this standard, planners must keep in constant touch with all segments of the community, both to update and assimilate the information to be taught in formal planner training programs, and during periodic visits by planners to programs and facilities which serve youth. This constant interchange and contact by planners with the community will permit planners to act "not only as professional planners but also as facilitators and coordinators of community prevention efforts." Report of the Task Force, supra at Commentary to Standard 2.2. Through this process, planning personnel can and must maintain continuous contact with the system and the people for whom they plan.

1.428 Personnel
Providing Support
Services in Residential
Programs

All personnel responsible for providing support services in residential programs such as ground and building maintenance, laundry, and meal preparation, should be provided with preservice and inservice training on the law and procedures governing matters subject to the jurisdiction of the family court; causes of delinquency and family conflict; crisis intervention techiques; the backgroud and needs of the client population; ethnic, cultural, and minority relations, and supervision and security requirements.

Sources:

See generally National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Report of the Task Force on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Standard 19.10 (1976) [hereinafter cited as Report of the Task Force]; Institute of Judicial Administration/American Bar Assiciation Joint Commission on Juvenile Justice Standards, Standards Relating to Correctional Administration, Standard 3.3 (draft, 1976) [hereinafter cited as IJA/ABA, Correctional Administration].

Commentary

Support personnel play as important a role as personnel providing direct services to juveniles in residential programs. The National Advisory Committee has achnowledged the importance of support staff in adopting this standard which provides specific training for such personnel. Recognizing that support personnel have close and frequent contact with juveniles in residential programs, the National Advisory Committee's recommendation should further the consistency of purpose and of philosophical approach among all staff working in residential facilities. This standard should also enhance the quality and effectiveness of support personnel in residential programs.

Support persons enjoy at least as much contact with juvenile residents as do teachers, childcare workers, and other direct service providers. Cf. Standard 1.425. The role modeling provided by ground maintenance persons, building janitors, cooks, and other support staff may be more familiar

the role modeling provided by professional teachers, psychologists, and others who offer more direct services to youth. See Standard 1.425. The impact of support staff contact upon residents' behavior and personal growth may be more tangible and effective in many cases than the impact of personnel who provide teaching, psychiatric, childcare, and other more direct services. Some juveniles may, for example, confide more readily in support staff than in their more judgemental teachers or therapists. For these reasons, it is imperative that support staff be aware of the backgrounds and needs of the client population, of the philosophy and goals of the total Juvenile Justice System, and of the specific treatment approaches (if any) used in the particular facility where they are employed.

Preservice training will provide support staff with a general introduction to the field and to the role and goals of the state's Youth Servies Agency. See Report of the Task Force, supra at Standard 19.10 and Commentary. This formal initiation may prevent conflicts that individual support staff members who are unfamiliar with the juvenile service system might otherwise initially encounter with the philosophy and objectives of the centralized youth service agency.

Inservice training is also recommended here. Such training should be tailored to assist employees further define and achieve their professional objectives and convey information about any changes in the system that might affect their role or the juvenile clients to whom they provide services. See Report of the Task Force, supra.

Through pre- and inservice training programs, support personnel will become a more integral part of the juvenile service system. Traditionally taking a spectator's view of the system, support personnel will gain perspective about the juvenile system and insight into the needs of juveniles.

Because support staff and persons more directly serving juveniles often must work together closely, training topics which are pertinent to such personnel groups might best be taught to both groups jointly to enhance communication and cohesiveness among all personnel serving in residential programs. Because all staff contribute alike to the total effectiveness of any residential program, some joint training should provide greater staff cohesion and effectiveness. To convey how each person's role fits into the overall goal of a residential program and of the total youth service system