I know the Fort Bend County “Saved by the Bell” truancy program is due for approval at the Fort Bend Independent School District’s (FBISD) board meeting on tomorrow night but I want you to know that I sit opposed to it as a FBISD parent, taxpayer, stakeholder, and evidence based intervention (EBI) expert because of some key reasons.

I am quite skillful at program analysis, development, design and implementation. Although the program outcomes “appear to be good” and even the work of the officers may have been noteworthy the systematic referring of students/parents, the inadequate prevention measures of the school district, and the criminalizing structure in which they were referred to resulted in the “Saved by the Bell” program receiving clientele that were best addressed through truancy prevention and pre-referral services. Thus the positive outcomes are what should have been FBISD or a real truancy prevention model’s numbers to tout.

Because of the school district’s lax approaches to preventing truancy, families and students had to go through the emotional, mental, financial, inter-relational anguish, strain, and burdens influenced by an inadequate yet criminalizing court system. This court system is destined to remain and will reap the abuse unless we transform it together.

FBISD need to focus on truancy prevention programs which involves components of the “Saved by the Bell” program but pre-referral and not post-referral. Our district financial resources should be allocated to build pre-referral capacity and not Fort Bend County’s post referral capacity. More importantly, our schools do not need an interdependent relationship with juvenile probations officers “nicknamed” caseworkers on our campus for the convenience of a law change. They need real caseworkers that are true to the paradigm shift and understand the interdisciplinary and collaborative model of casework. The agreement I reviewed still carries the control and language of a criminalization model. I am unpleased to say the least.

I would love it if FBISD would collaborate with Fort Bend County Behavioral Health and/or Social Services Department instead of Juvenile Probation but only if FBISD is unable to supply the capacity and training of their own staff to meet the truancy preventive intensive casework needs of our students. I believe either of these departments are better trained and suited to provide truancy prevention casework. It would be more in line with the role of the district to use the $240,000 to intensify prevention. By the way I know the county would not build capacity for post referral response measures in which the need has yet to be determined.

We know we need more prevention services and that is where the money should be. The cases in which “Saved by the Bell” program received were not appropriate for the program because good prevention would have not only addressed the truancy but prevented the criminalization of our youth. There is no reason for a youth experiencing undiagnosed or diagnosed mental health issues, psychosocial environmental barriers, lack of parent education and support, etc. who DESIRES to attend school should have fallen through the large cracks of prevention and reached the “Saved by the Bell” program in the first place. This is a system’s issue plain and simple.

The “Saved by the Bell” program outcomes are skewed. This program should have received willfully truant or refusal of services clients and not the clientele that it touts so boldly that it has served or better yet served well. The pathway of criminalization that these families went through to reach a supportive program is absolutely unacceptable and traumatizing to communities of color to say the least. I come to you with a voice of reason but a sense of desperation!

Vanesia R. Johnson
FBISD Parent

Originated September 18, 2015