Issues

Education Overhaul Approved For County Juvenile Justice System

Supervisor Don Knabe’s proposed overhaul of educational opportunities in Los Angeles County’s juvenile camps and halls was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors today. The reforms were proposed by Supervisor Knabe in June 2007 after a study revealed students were seriously underserved by the schools designed to teach children incarcerated in the Los Angeles County juvenile justice system.

Among the reforms will be the creation of charter schools in the probation system. The reforms will also customize educational opportunities based on the individual needs of the student, including a vocational education path, a college-bound path, and a GED completion path, among others. Additionally, the reforms will now tie education in the camps and halls with education in school districts across the County so that students leaving the juvenile justice system will have better continuity and consistency when they return to regular schools.

The implications of today’s actions matter to every resident of our County because of the long-term goals of these reforms, said Supervisor Knabe. By improving access to educational opportunities in the juvenile justice system today these kids are less likely to commit future crimes tomorrow and end up in and out of our justice system throughout their life.

According to the 2007 report by the Children’s Council of Los Angeles County, education is the area most in need of improvement in the juvenile justice system.

Among the report’s findings:

– In 2004, 74 percent of juvenile justice students did not pass the California High School Exit Examination.

– 20 percent of all Probation students require special education programs; double that of the general school population.

– School attendance records for Nidorf Juvenile Hall reveal that on one particular day in April 2007, 14% of students in the hall were not enrolled in the on-site school and only 78% of the enrolled students attended that day.

– Students in some high-risk units received little more than one hour of educational instruction a day.

We have nearly 3,000 children enrolled in our probation schools and we have an obligation to provide each and everyone one of them with access to educational opportunities, said Supervisor Knabe. If we want to keep these kids from returning to the probation system or from ending up in County jails later in life, then access to quality schooling must be a critical component of how we are serving children in our camps and halls.

Knabe Hosts Youth Trauma Conference

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe sponsored a conference for mental health professionals, probation officers, community workers, school administrators and teachers that examined how trauma and violence shapes the behaviors of young people.

The one-day training was developed in partnership with the Probation Department, Department of Mental Health, Los Angeles Unified School District and the Children’s Council of Los Angeles County, and focused on those engaged in delinquent behavior and under the supervision of the Probation Department.

For far too long, we have viewed kids involved in the juvenile justice system, over 27,000 in Los Angeles County alone, from primarily a prosecutorial standpoint, and that really impairs our ability to help them move past their delinquent behaviors and overcome the significant obstacles they face, said Supervisor Knabe. The goal of the conference is to impart upon staff who work with these young people everyday specific, concrete practices that take into account the trauma and violence these kids grew up with and are continually exposed to. I hope that these new groundbreaking practices will be a positive and significant step towards improving their lives and ultimately eliminating violence and the pervasive influence of gangs in their communities.

Safe Surrender Protected By Governor’s Veto For Third Consecutive Year

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe offered his thanks to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today for vetoing a bill that would have placed the success of the statewide Safe Haven Law in jeopardy. This is the third consecutive year the Governor has vetoed similar legislation.

Under the proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 2262, the Safe Haven window would have been extended to seven days from its current 72 hours. Currently, the program allows mothers of unwanted newborns to surrender their babies at Safe Surrender sites, such as Fire Stations and Hospitals, up to 3 days after the child’s birth. The person who surrenders the newborn is protected from prosecution, No Shame, No Blame and No Names.

Extensive research and statistics show the danger zone for these babies is within the first hours of life. Extending the window from 72 hours to seven days could have created serious medical issues said Supervisor Knabe, who championed the formation of Safe Surrender, the Los Angeles County version of the Safe Haven Program, over six years ago.

Access to quality medical care in the first hours of life is an absolutely critical component that could have been placed in jeopardy had this legislation gone through, said Knabe. Many infants who are safely surrendered were born in secret and have received no prenatal care or medical care at all – services that are critical for these newborns to receive in the first hours after birth. That is a risk we simply cannot afford and we appreciate the Governor’s veto.

Los Angeles County has been at the forefront of implementing the Safe Haven Law. Since its enactment in 2001, 68 babies have been safely surrendered in Los Angeles County.

Knabe And Antonovich Call For Yearly Metrolink Emergency/Disaster Training

Los Angeles County Supervisors Don Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich introduced a motion this week before the Metrolink Board of Directors, requiring mandatory annual disaster simulation and emergency management training exercises for all five counties served by the agency (Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside).

The motion directs the Metrolink CEO to seek input from County, State and Federal emergency management agencies and other urban commuter rail agencies to develop a risk assessment analysis of the current Metrolink system’s single-tracking, at-grade highway/rail crossings, freight movement coordination, terrorist targets, tunnels, bridges, and stations.

The recent head-on collision of these two trains should never have happened, said Supervisor Knabe. It must be made evident to all of us in Southern California that the lessons learned translate into an improved, fail-safe rail traffic management system which can be counted on to avoid future train-to-train collisions, without exception.

With nearly 1 million boardings a month, Metrolink faces major challenges with sharing track with freight and Amtrak trains, at-grade highway crossings, homeland security and other infrastructure and technological issues, said Supervisor Antonovich. It is imperative that Metrolink inventories all challenges facing the system, develops a strategy to fund the necessary mitigations, and has an integrated and comprehensive emergency management plan for the five counties.

Lomita Dedicates New Walking Path For Seniors

Supervisor Don Knabe joined members of the Lomita City Council for the dedication of a renovated senior fitness trail at Lomita Park, a project that was completed with $100,000 in funding committed by Supervisor Knabe.

In 2007, Supervisor Knabe dedicated $1.7 million in Proposition A Park Funds for a grant program to the 26 cities he represents. The City of Lomita applied for $100,000 to improve a preexisting quarter-mile walking path around Lomita Park. The upgrades included resurfacing the path and installing 10 fitness stations designed for use by seniors. Lomita is now working on plans to integrate a senior fitness program into its park schedule and is working in conjunction with Torrance Memorial Hospital to develop an expanded physical activity program.

Supervisor Knabe’s grant program requires each city that was awarded a grant to put up a 15-percent match towards their projects. The City of Lomita went above the 15-percent requirement, contributing $80,000 beyond Supervisor Knabe’s $100,000 grant.

This wonderful project will benefit the many active older adults in the City of Lomita and the greater South Bay area, said Supervisor Knabe. I was happy to support a project that is unique to the South Bay in that it is the only one of its kind that is specifically designed for active older adults.

New Series Of Property Tax Assessment Seminars Set

The County of Los Angeles is sponsoring a series of free seminars during October, November and December to assist property owners who feel their taxes should be lowered due to a decline in the value of their property. The 90-minute seminars will be offered six times at six locations: Culver City, El Monte, Glendale, Lakewood, Lancaster and Van Nuys. Additional meetings will be scheduled throughout the County on a year-round basis.

The meetings are intended to help taxpayers better understand the assessment appeals process, which many find confusing. The seminars will be of value to homeowners who are interested in learning about the assessment appeals process and to those who have already filed an appeal. The seminars will cover taxpayers appeal rights and when to file an application for reduction in assessment. The seminars will also cover how to prepare for a hearing, what qualifies as admissible evidence, what will happen at the hearing and what to expect after the hearing.

The dates, times and locations of the sessions are:

Lancaster – Lancaster Library, 23743 Valencia Boulevard, October 15, 10:00 a.m.

Free parking at the library.

Glendale – Glendale Library, 222 Harvard Street, October 22, 10:00 a.m.

Parking at the corner of Maryland and Harvard.

El Monte – Crippen Senior Center, 3120 Tyler Avenue, November 20, 10:00 a.m.

Free parking at the center.

Culver City – Dixon Library, 4975 Overland Avenue, November 24, 10:00 a.m.

Free parking behind the library.

Lakewood – Iacoboni Library, 4900 Clark Avenue, December 15, 10:00 a.m.

Parking at corner of Clark and Del Amo.

Van Nuys – Bernardi Senior Center, 6514 Sylmar Avenue, December 17, 2:00 p.m.

Free parking on Hamlin.

Persons with disabilities who believe they need reasonable accommodation or help in order to attend a seminar may call (213) 974-1431. Hearing-impaired persons with TDD equipment may leave a typewritten message by calling (213) 974-1707 (TDD). Schedules for meetings may be obtained by calling (213) 974-4240 or on the Internet at http://bos.co.la.ca.us/SCRIPTS/publiced.htm

County To Evaluate Disaster Response After Deadly Metrolink Crash

In the wake of last week’s Metrolink train disaster in Chatsworth, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe called for a comprehensive report evaluating the overall disaster response to the accident. The report is expected to be submitted to the Board of Supervisors in 90 days.

The Board of Supervisors approved Knabe’s motion that directed the County’s Chief Executive Office, in close cooperation with Los Angeles City and with the support of the County Coroner, Mental Health, and other participating County departments, to evaluate the initial disaster response. The final report should provide findings, conclusions and recommendations regarding the following subjects: timeliness; speed and effectiveness with which incident command and control was established and maintained; suitability and sufficiency of resources to safely extract and rescue victims; adequacy and effectiveness of communications, including means to respond to concerned family members, press and public. The final report will be reviewed by the Emergency Preparedness Commission for the County and City of Los Angeles.

In addition, the County’s Emergency Medical Services Agency will provide findings, conclusions and strengthening recommendations on all aspects of the pre-hospital and hospital care response, including on-scene responders, supplies, equipment and communications, the triage and hospital assignment process, suitability and availability of patient transport, and of hospital emergency stations, operating rooms, beds, medical specialists and other patient care personnel.

Last Friday’s head-on collision of two trains should never have happened. The victims and families affected deserve and must be given an accurate and complete explanation of what went wrong, said Supervisor Knabe. Furthermore, it must be made evident to all of us in Southern California that the lessons learned translate into an improved, fail-safe rail traffic management system which can be counted on to avoid future train-to-train collisions, without exception.

Valencia Hospital Receives Safely Surrendered Newborn

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce that a baby boy was safely surrendered at a hospital in the community of Valencia yesterday. The mother reportedly told hospital workers she learned about Safe Surrender from reading a brochure about the program.

The newborn Hispanic male was reported to be in good health. As is standard practice, the baby boy is in protective custody and will eventually be placed with a family approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.

I want to thank this newborn’s mother for doing the right thing, said Supervisor Knabe. We have a law on the books to protect babies from abandonment and give the mother a safe, secure and anonymous way to get her child into safe hands. It is still our goal that 2008 will be the first year with no abandoned newborns.

This is the seventh Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County in 2008 and the 69th Safe Surrender since the program began seven years ago. The program was initiated by Supervisor Knabe and approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in 2001. It allows someone to surrender an infant that is no more than three days old, as long as the infant shows no signs of abuse.

Supervisors Fund Knabe Plan To Slow Jail Early Release Program

Nearly $3 million is being spent on electronic monitoring devices so more nonviolent offenders can serve home detention and help ease crowding in Los Angeles County jails. The plan was born out of a proposal made by Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe that ultimately led to a change in State law last year.

The idea for increased use of electronic monitoring was presented by Supervisor Knabe to the Board of Supervisors in July 2006. After the Board approved making Knabe’s plan a legislative priority, an author for the bill was successfully sought in State Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill in September 2007.

Under the old state law, many convicted criminals were allowed to choose between a jail sentence and electronic monitoring. Many criminals chose jail time instead of the electronic monitoring option because they knew that under the current statistics of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Early Release Program, if they enter the County jail system, they will likely only serve 10-percent of the time they were actually sentenced with, as opposed to serving 100-percent of their sentence on electronic monitoring.

Supervisor Knabe’s proposal asked the Governor and legislators to revise the State law to ensure that the decision between electronic monitoring and a jail term is left to the law enforcement community and not in the hands of lawbreakers. Under the new law, electronic monitoring will become mandatory for certain non-violent offenders, and as a result, it will free up much-needed beds in County jails for the very worst offenders, who need to remain behind bars for more than just a fraction of their sentences.

If a criminal receives a 30-day sentence, then why would they agree to be electronically monitored that entire time if they know the loopholes of early release mean a 30-day sentence translates into only a few days behind bars, said Supervisor Knabe. The choice between the two should not be an option in the hands of convicted criminals. Criminals should not get to choose their punishment simply because one takes less time to complete. Length of punishment belongs in the hands of our judges and when a judge imposes a sentence, that sentence needs to stick.

Ultimately, we need additional jail beds to ensure that every criminal serves every day he is sentenced to, but until that day comes, this new funding will ensure that the very worst offenders will remain behind bars and that the electronic monitoring option will be used only for non violent criminals.

Up to 2,000 inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system will be placed into electronic monitoring through the use of ankle bracelets. Currently only 300-400 offenders serve their time on electronic monitoring.

County Launches Green Award Program

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has started a new Green Leadership Award to recognize sound environmental strategies. The program will help promote "Green" practices in our community and enhance the County’s role as a leader in these efforts by recognizing outstanding environmental sustainability efforts by individuals and organizations.

The competition is open to all County residents, businesses, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, professional and trade’-associations, communities, State, and local government entities. Those who have previously applied will be allowed to apply again.

There will be five categories of awards, four of which will recognize nonprofit agencies, public agencies, businesses and individuals. A fifth award, given by the chair of the Board of Supervisors, will recognize an individual whose leadership and dedication made a significant impact in environmental education.”

Winners will be selected by the county’s Energy and Environmental Policy Team. The Award program will be formally launched in April 2009 to coincide with Earth Day.