Deflecting Court Involvement Due to School Refusal
Jefferson County Human Services
12/1/2023-12/31/2024
Jefferson County Human Services has mapped out a program designed to deflect youth referred to
the Youth Justice system for school refusal behaviors/chronic truancy. The program will be piloted in
Jefferson School District, specifically 9th, 10th and 11th grades at the high school level, with
additional early intervention programming for students at risk of truancy referrals at Jefferson Middle
and High Schools. The program will include a school refusal intervention specialist who will provide
family based case management based on the Functional Family Case Management (child welfare)
model, school check in mentor(s) who will meet with the student at school as well as with their
families in the home both during the school year as well as during the summer months, transportation
services if/when that barrier exists, tutoring, parent coaching, incentives for students and family
members for making steps toward achieving their goals and successful outcomes, which are tracked
on the LiveSchool app - https://www.whyliveschool.com/, and other evidenced based services related
to the core issues that have led to the school refusal. Additional programming (CBITS) will be
offered to middle and high school students that are at risk of chronic truancy due to trauma. Crisis
intervention training using the Life Space Crisis Intervention model- an evidenced based practice will
be provided for select teachers and teacher aids in the district to address crisis behaviors in the
classroom that can lead to school suspension and ultimately add to school refusal behaviors.
Restorative Justice to Address Disproportionate Minority Contact
Jefferson County Department of Human Services
Jefferson County will continue and expand our "Restorative Practices in the Schools to Reduce Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Youth Justice System," which began in the summer of 2021. Jefferson County Human Services has developed excellent partnerships with three school districts in the county and will invite a minimum of one more school district into the project, as well as to offer "train the trainer" sessions for six individuals from Jefferson County and the school districts who received the original restorative practices training last year. Training individuals to teach the curriculum will ensure sustainability and growth of the program.
Diversionary Programming to Address DMC
Jefferson County Human Services is initiating a school/justice partnership with three school districts to address overall disproportionate minority contact (DMC). Jefferson County will provide training in Restorative Circles to school personnel and county stakeholders to address school-based Youth Justice referrals. This restorative and diversionary approach to non-violent crimes and infractions committed in the schools will create a trauma sensitive culture of care that addresses the behavior, hold the youth accountable without unnecessary formal system involvement, capitalizes on youth strengths and competencies and allows the victim to be made whole. This targeted approach to youth who are referred from school resource officers is expected to reduce the number of youth of color and youth whose referrals stem from untreated mental health issues from unnecessarily being formally processed in the Youth Justice Court System.