Topic: Funding for School-Based Programs

Question: We had a question posed recently about where school-based youth courts, in particular, get their funding.  It might also be helpful if you indicate if part of the program's expenses (e.g., staff) are incorporated within the school's budget (e.g., a teacher who coordinates the program as part of his/her regular teaching duties).  Also, the person requesting the information wanted to know if your school-based youth court is contained within one school, district wide, or some other type of jurisdiction?

Responses from Coordinators:

Mid-America Council Teen Court
Stephanie Rall
Director
Mid-America Council - Boy Scouts of America
12401 W. Maple Road
Omaha, NE 68164-1853
Phone: 402-431-9272 Ext. 211 Fax: 402-431-0444
Email: srall@mac-bsa.org
Website: www.mac-bsa.org

We have a Juvenile Drug Court. It is administrated by the Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court. We do not make referrals to Drug Court. 

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Johnson County Youth Court
Courtney Barden
Youth Court Supervisor
Johnson County Court Services
1255 East 119th Street
Olathe, KS 66061
Phone: 913-324-6932
Email: courtney.barden@jocogov.org

Our county is comprised of 6 school districts, in which there are 19 High schools. We currently have Youth Court programs operating in 12 of these High Schools. Our programs are all administered out of Johnson County Court Services (probation) and our Youth Court in Schools Coordinator travels to each school routinely to provide recruitment and training of volunteers and is present at every hearing that is held within the schools. We also provide the supervision of the respondents after their court hearing. Our programs are completely grant funded, by 2 primary sources: Title II Formula Grant and a Byrne (to be known as JAG this year) grant. The schools currently provide no funding for these programs, although they do provide space for the hearings and a school sponsor (typically this person is a government or debate teacher or the School Resource Officer) to serve as a primary contact point for the program. Through our grant, we provide stipends for the school sponsors in an amount that is comparable to what other club sponsors are making in extra duty pay. This upcoming school year, one of the schools is piloting the program as a class (it will be an elective government credit), thus they will not receive a stipend because it will be part of their regular teaching duties. Hope this helps! 

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Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Youth Court
Mona Porter
Assistant Principal
Shorecrest High School
15343 25th Avenue N.E.
Shoreline, WA 98155
Phone: 206-361-4309 Fax: 206-361-4284
Email: mona.porter@shorelineschools.org

Our youth court is underwritten by both the school district and the court systems. Since I am the advisor and I am an assistant principal in one of the two high schools in the Shoreline School District, in effect, the district absorbs the cost of my time. In addition, the district absorbs the costs of the paper and printing required for the program. We have asked for and received a small budget from the municipal court with which we work in order to defray the costs of training new staff at the beginning of the school year. Our youth court serves two communities, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park and the courts of jurisdiction in each - Lake Forest Park Municipal Court and Shoreline Division of King County District Court. Cases are referred to us from both jurisdictions. Judge Linda Portnoy and Judge Douglas Smith are the two judicial mentors for the program. Any student who resides in either of the two communities or goes to school in a public or private school in either community can request diversion of his/her traffic citation to SL/LFP Youth Court. We hear over 100 cases a year and have a staff of 25 students from Shorecrest High School. We hold our court sessions at Lake Forest Park City Hall, in their courtroom one or two evenings a month, depending on the case load. 

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Syracuse City School District Student Court
Judy Wolfe
Program Supervisor
Syracuse City School District
2400 Grant Blvd., Room 187
Syracuse, NY 13208
Phone: 315-435-6345 Fax: 315-435-4916
Email: jwolfe26@scsd.us
Website: personal( jwolfe1@twcny.rr.com)

My funding is under a dept. of ed. grant "extended school day /school violence prevention program" .
My salary & benefits are included in the grant allocations. I have a small budget for supplies, food, cell phone & membership fees, etc. I was hired to oversee 4 student courts in 4 high schools in one urban district. We hear referrals from 4th grade through 12th grade. Each school meets once a week. This year we had 4 - 3rd year law students working with the program who were on fellowship, paid through our state attorney general's office and the college of law. They were hired to help with the courts and teach the attorney general's Student Against Violence Initiative. I'd be happy to answer any further questions, they can contact me directly. I can honestly say it has been an uphill climb but I think we are finally reaching the summit. Each year has been better, but schools are slow to accept change. This is the first year I feel we have been accepted and they can see the results.

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Project Chance Youth Court - Eau Claire High School
Charmaine Primus
Director of Project G.O.A.L.
Eau Claire High School
4800 Monticello Road
Columbia, SC 29203
Phone: 803-735-7624 Fax: 803-735-7629
Email: cprimus@richlandone.org

We have no money at Eau Claire High School . Several people continue to ask and say they can help but our youth court went a year this time with no money for the 2nd year. This will definitely bear on whether we have it next year. I hope anyone out there can truly help with some monies. We have no resources for people to write extensive grants either.

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Fort Vancouver High School Traffic Court
James Stoda
Teacher
Fort Vancouver High School
5700 E. 18th Street
Vancouver, WA 98661
Phone: 360-313-4000 Fax: 360-313-4001

The Fort Vancouver High School Student Traffic Court only allows students at Fort to participate. There is no funding - I volunteer my time. We use the court room which is located here on campus (we have a great facility due to our "legal magnet" program!). The only real expense is copying, and it is fairly minimal - I use the main office's paper supply.

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Hazelwood Student Court
Ron Hutchens
Law Related Education Teacher
Hazelwood Middle School
1021 Hazelwood Ave.
New Albany, IN 47150
Phone: 812-949-4280 Ext. 3349 Fax: 812-949-6962
Email: rhutchens@nafcs.k12.in.us

The Hazelwood Middle School student court is made up of 8th grade students. They meet every other day for 90 minutes during the school day. We are on a Block 8 schedule with a resource block every other day. The student court meets with me during that time frame. After several weeks of training, the court begins to hear cases that are forwarded from the assistant principal who handles all discipline in our building. Usually the cases involve students who are in trouble for the third or fourth time and his earlier actions did not deter. The court only hears cases from within our school. Since I am the Law-related education teacher there is very little expense. We have written and received several grants that have helped to offset incidental expenses.

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Northern Weber Youth Court
Catherine Rolling
Weber High School
430 W. Weber High Drive
Pleasant View, UT 84414
Phone: 801-476-3700 Fax: 801-473-3799
Email: crolling@warriors.weber.k12.ut.us

The main way we get money for our account is the fee that they pay to come to our court. Sometimes we will have a fundraiser at our school to raise money for summer training. I am a teacher at the school and I don't get paid to do Youth Court so I guess you could say I volunteer my time. The police officer I work with gets paid by his department, his hours spent in court count as his weekly hours. In our area the courts are a mix, some are school based and some our community based. They don't do it by district, ours is school based so all the students that
serve on youth court are selected by me and must attend our high school and be in good standing. We don't have a lot of expenses, we have court in the city courtroom (free), I volunteer (free), the police officer gets paid by his department (free, to us anyway). We have to pay for
paper for the copies we make and then the rest of the money goes towards our yearly training. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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Santa Barbara Teen Court
Ramon Velazquez
Program Manager
Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
PO Box 28
Santa Barbara, CA 93102
Phone: 805-963-1433 Fax: 805-963-4099
Email: ramonv@cadasb.org
Website: www.cadasb.org/en/northcounty/teencourt.html

Our School-based Teen Court was funded through a 3-year grant from the Department of Education's "Safe Schools, Healthy Students" initiative.

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Mountain Pointe High School Teen Court
Gary Egbert
Teen Court Coordinator
c/o Maricopa County Juvenile Probation
1810 South Lewis
Mesa, AZ 85210
Phone: 602-560-2627 Fax: 602-506-2574
Email: garegb@juvenile.maricopa.gov

We have about 20 schools involved in Maricopa County's Teen Court program at the schools. They are in about 10 districts. The probation department trains and supports them. Teachers, school probation and police officers sponsor them as part of their duties. A few teachers may receive extra compensation but not many. Some of the Teen Courts are held during school hours as part of a Social Studies, English, Government, or Criminal Justice class. Most are after or before school. Each school is provided $350 from the court for Teen Court supplies, awards, etc. This money is not for compensation however.

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Cattaraugus County Youth Court and Community Justice Program
Laurie Peterson
Program Coordinator
200 Erir Street
Little Valley, NY 14755
Phone: 716-938-9111 Ext. 2617 Fax: 716-938-6519
Email: LJPeterson@cattco.org
Website: www.co.cattaraugus.ny.us

I get funding from 6 different sources and the school-based activities are included in a couple of the grants. We do not get funding directly from the schools, but they certainly provide in-kind services. I use classrooms for training, the school's audio/video equipment, and spend considerable time in classrooms when recruiting (which requires scheduling through the guidance office or administration) the trainees then serve in the community-based sites.

I just finished my fourth round of training for this academic year and that is the goal I set. I do all of my team member recruitment/training in schools. In the last 3 years, I have done training in 6 different districts. The largest district does school-based hearings in two different buildings, the High School and Middle School. Training, teams and hearings are completely separate from each other. This particular district has had a huge turnover in Administration in the past year and consequently the referrals have tapered down.

We also have the School Resource Officers program in most of our county's schools. These guys have been an invaluable resource for the Youth Court Program and I have established a wonderful working relationship with several of them.

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Durango Teen Court
Molly Martin
Coordinator
Durango High School
2390 Main Avenue
Durango, CO 81301
Phone: 970-259-1630 Ext. 2364 Fax: 970-259-1483
Email: mmartin@durango.k12.co.us

Durango Teen Court is funded $10,000 by the School District. The total budget is about $13,000, and I write local grants for the needed supplemental funds. I am the coordinator, and I work 19 hours a week during the school year. That is my sole job at the High School. I work at the High School and they are the one's who utilize my services (as well as Municipal Court, the DA and County Court), but I have offered my services to the two middle schools in the district as well. If there are more specific questions, please don't hesitate to call.

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Walter C. Young Middle School Peer Court
Marilyn White
Coordinator - Peer Court/Peer Counseling
Broward County School
901 NW 129th Avenue
Pembroke Pines, FL 33024
Phone: 754-323-4500 Ext. 3044
Email: white7500@aol.com

This year I have developed a manual for Broward County Schools containing everything you need to know about the program. Peer Court is a class or 2 in my case and it is combined with Peer Counseling which really works out well. The program is school based and is a part of the coordinators responsibilities. Next year I will be the guidance director at W. C. Young Middle. I have a wonderful person I am training to take over my program.

This year which ends next week we have done 160 cases. This is our last week to provide services. It's a great program which I really believe in so feel free to contact me for more information. School # is 754-3234500 or marilyn.white@browardschools.com 

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Dysart High School Teen Court
Lee Yacuel
School Probation Officer/Teen Court Sponsor
Dysart High School
11425 North Dysart Road
El Mirage, AZ 85335
Phone: 623-876-7568 Ext. Fax: 623-876-7929
Email: lyacuel@dysart.org

In Maricopa County schools, our Youth Courts get their funding through the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department.

We receive $350.00 each school year to use for supplies and other expenses (i.e. club shirts) related to club activities. These funds are kept in our Club's account and controlled by the District office. Written requests must be submitted and approved prior to expending any funds. The funds we receive are not a part of the school's budget.

At Dysart HS, our teacher sponsor does so voluntarily and her involvement is not a part of her regular teaching duties. As the Safe Schools Probation Officer, my role as Teen Court Advisor is also strictly voluntary. Other than personal satisfaction, neither of us receive any type of compensation for Teen Court involvement.

The are a total of 26 different schools within Maricopa County who sponsor Teen Courts. 20 of those are school-based courts and the remaining six hold their hearings at local Justice Courts. The difference between the two is that school-based courts are completely student-run and operate entirely within their respective school. Justice Court hearings are held at an actual court and are student-run except that the role of Judge is assumed by an adult (rather than a student). All are under the jurisdiction of the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department.

Our school is currently the only one in our District which holds Teen Court hearings. We handle all cases District-wide and those from other neighboring schools.

If there are any other questions please feel free to contact me at any time. 

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