Child Welfare
Ana Valdes of the Palm Beach Post reports that three events to be held today could all shed light on the Barahona case, a chilling abuse and murder story in Florida involving two 10-year-old twins and their adoptive parents.
Education/Jobs
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in the Miami Herald, writes about how the administration’s plan to turn around failing schools differs from the prescriptions of No Child Left Behind.
Alan Miller writes this guest column in the Marin Independent Journal (Calif.) praising California community colleges as a wonderful option for students exiting high school.
One county school district is touting decreased dropout rates, and according to this piece in the Jacksonville Daily News (N.C.) by Suzanne Ulbrich, the reason is a more coordinated effort between middle school and high school principals to identify students at risk and target them for dropout prevention.
The New York Times Ariel Kaminer reports New York City public schools is ahead of the curve in providing healthy meals for students.
James C. Worthington is the latest local workforce board director to write an opinion column attacking the House for approving cuts to job training programs. This piece, in the Louisville Courier-Journal, says these budget cuts to WIA programs will hurt education.
Juvenile Justice
As more states consider raising the age at which teens are considered adults in criminal proceedings, reports Mosi Secret of The New York Times, the Empire State remains stuck on 16.
Mike Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports on two reasons why workers were surprised that Gov. Scott Walker planned to close the Ethan Allen juvenile facility: because it’s closer to where most juvenile offenders are from, and because the state has put millions into developing the facility over the past two years.
Leo Strupczewski of the Legal Intelligencer reports on the proposed changes to the juvenile justice system prompted by the Luzerne County scandal, which some critics say do not go far enough.
When it comes to turning around juveniles, locked placements are far from the only option, writes former juvenile judge Irene Sullivan of Florida in an op-ed that appeared today in the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. Click here for part one of Youth Today’s interview with Sullivan, and click here for part two.
In the Contra Costa Times today, Thadeus Greenson uses Humblodt County as a focal point to report on how state spending reforms will create a “new normal” for California jurisdictions when it comes to law enforcement, including how they handle high-need juvenile offenders.
Texas would spend $38.8 million to comply with the Adam Walsh Act and lose $2.2 by not bothering to comply with it, according to information in this story by Heather Caygle of the Houston Chronicle.
