Travis County Commissioners Court
July 26, 2005
Item 5
Number 5, consider and take appropriate action on briefing from the Austin independent school district regarding performance of the Travis County after-school services contract.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
>> this is the last item we'll take this morning. If you have an item on the agenda we have not reached, I think if you get back to the court this afternoon at 3:30, you're in good shape. Unless it's the collection of delinquent taxes item. I知 estimating that will take two hours. Sorry to cut you off.
>> that's quite all right. I知 sherri fleming, executive manager for Travis County health and human services. And we have a brief report for the court on the after-school project that was funded by the Commissioners court in the f.y. '05 budget. And we have distributed to you an update to the report that you received. I think we -- it has a summary chart that is kind of an at a glance approach to the performance measures, but I will turn you over to aisd and --
>> my name is shirley justice, after school coordinator with Austin i.s.d. It's no secret how excited I am with the pierce and webb middle school students. Basically you have a several-page report that you can look at, but I did want to pull out some salient information that I think that you found most interesting in the form of a chart so you can quickly look and see how we've been doing. I can go over this very quickly. As you can see, we projected that we would serve approximately 750 students. During the course of last year, during the school year, we served well over 1,000, 1301, in fact, and we have it broken down by fall and then the year total. We also tried to figure out what would -- the number of duplicated use looked like and we interpreted that to be instance of attendance and we had students attending 31,500 times. Meaning many of the students participated in many activities. The cost per use was well below what we anticipated, and the main reason for that is because, as we promised you that we would do, we did go out and seek additional funds from other funders to stretch the county dollars so that we could serve more students and also increase the scope of how we served those students. So the cost to you basically is -- turned out to be $1.70 per day per use and that is because we were successful in seeking other funding and continue to seek additional funding not only to grow the quality and scope of the program in these two zip codes, but to expand our model into other high-need zip codes. In a minute I will talk to you a little bit about how we're already starting that process. We did a survey with the students, which is actually a national survey that is developed by the boys and girls clubs. There's many questions we ask, but the question we thought you would find most interesting was about the increase or decrease in risky behavior. We are unable to ask some questions of a.i.s.d. Students because of this act of consent rule that we have to get parpbtd permission for individual questions so it's very difficult to get some of that information and we're going to get harder on getting that to you next year. But we did ask about risky behaviors. As you can see, students actually -- more students said that their risky behavior -- that they participated in risky behavior in the first semester than did the second semester. This is the boys and girls club survey. We do not see a significant difference. And one of the things that we did in the spring semester is that we worked really, really hard to target the students that were the most at risk. The most in trouble. We did a lot of recruitment effort to get those. So the fact that we stayed significantly about the same is pretty good because we were serving a more high-need population in the spring semester than we did in the fall.
>> so the percentages to the right on page 1, 82%, 78%, those represent what now?
>> this represents an answer to the question. The number of students that reported a decrease in risky behavior. So in actuality, 82% of the students surveyed reported a decrease in risky behavior, and then 78%. So this could be -- we would like the numbers to be flip-flopped.
>> okay. It's one of those weird negative questions that you are really never sure.
>> was this asked of the student themselves?
>> it was asked of the students themselves once prior to beginning our program, prior to August of '04 and and again in the spring of '05.
>> so how do you really know? I mean when you ask a student did you or didn't you, I mean --
>> I will let dave talk to you about the validity of the survey.
>> it's a boys and girls club of america tool kit. It's used nationally. Any one of these indicators, for instance, risky behavior, there is anywhere from 6 to 8 to 10 questions. Sist individual questions under risky behavior range from have you taken anything that didn't belong to you within the past 30 days. Have you engaged in any type of sexual activity in the past 30 days. These are anonymous surveys. The kids' answers culminate into an overall percentage of what did we see a decrease in risky barrier. Sex and tobacco use, alcohol use, shoplifting, all of that goes into what we consider to be risky behavior. These perpbls are a culmination.
>> you have to take their word for it.
>> you do. The survey measures a -- attitudes or perceptions towards risky behavior with the assumption if their attitude or perception will eventually lead to a behavior itself. It measures whether or not they are prone to risky behavior based on their attitudes.
>> on the next page we do have more quantitative data that you can look at that does measure in a more quantitative way based on discipline referrals. We have two types of disciplinary referrals we report on. One is requires a mandatory removal. I included in your packet what the list of what con toots a mandatory removal. And those will be considered criminal offenses. And then also discretionary removal. And you can see here that compared -- our students, program students compared with campuses as a whole actually has fewer discretionary removals and those offenses can be anywhere from talking back to the teacher to vandalism, theft. It runs a gamut. There's quite a long list of what a principal or school can decide if they are going the remove a student for any of those offenses. Our students generally do better than the school as a whole. And I think you can also see, if you compare the fall to the spring that our students actually their numbers improve. They did better. We had fewer mandatory -- I mean discretionary removals from the fall to the spring, and while the campus as a whole, their numbers went up. So I think think that that shows we are making some kind of an impact as far as risky behaviors with the students. Now, mandatory removals, at webb you can see the numbers are basically the same and it's not a significant difference. But at pierce, the numbers of the program students do look better than the school as a whole. And a lot of the reason is is because we are targeting those students who are the absolute most in need or have a pr- pens teu toward the risky behaviors, the principals, the counselors, the assistant principals are referring those students to us and we are channelling them into the peacemaker's program or into case management with the communities in schools. And we hope to have even additional programs next year that we can channel them into. For instance, we're bringing on the Austin child guidance center as a partner so those students that have the most need for intense I want intervention, they and their families will be served by the center. We're bringing on a few other partners we think will be instrumental in helping this type of student. For instance, the theater action project, which does theater arts. But around socially relevant issues such as conflict resolution, balance in bullying prevention and problem solving about issues important to young people of that age group.
>> what about the risky behavior of bullying fellow students? It's kind of a silent thing because, you know, and sometimes I think it's reported and maybe the children are not taken seriously. Is that one of the risky behaviors out there?
>> absolutely. Not only the council on at risk youth, but the boys and girls program provides a program called second step. Its entire goal is address violence and bullying prevention. It is running rampant on school campuses. And I think some forms of bullying are most overlooked on the passive forms. A lot of think it's hitting another kid on the playground. It's not that. Skol cal has tkpw g gone beyond that. Tolerance of cultural diversity. What we're seeing not only at these middle school am campuses, but we're seeing it organization-wide is that students are becoming less and less tolerant of other cultures. So we're going to be working specifically on that because it's a huge issue in our schools and communities.
>> when we talk to the people at schools, bullying, violence prevention, and this cultural diversity and tolerance for others are the issues that they would like to see worked on there is a huge problem in the schools with tension between different groups. And that is an area we've been charged with not only by the county but also by the people who work in these schools that that is an area we need to work on and our program plans I think reflect that for the upcoming year. Our training as well.
>> we actually survey the students twice a year to determine what their needs and interests are and repeatedly they tell us the number one factor they are most at risk to are bullies. So it's an issue not only perceived by the counselors but definitely perceived by the students.
>> there's a thing that we know that are true is if we don't knock off the knucklehead stuff, if we don't keep them from going into mandatory school removal, it is guaranteed the most expensive way we will deal with that child is if they wind up in front of a judge down at juvenile justice. It heartening me greatly to know that we are investing in kids before they get into trouble as opposed to that everything we do around here seems to be after the fact and we spend great amounts of money on folks who are in trouble and deserving kids that are just trying to keep from going over that edge and going from just really knucklehead stuff, this is serious stuff. We are saying you count too. You don't have to get into trouble before we pay attention to you. And to help with that transition, I thought that was the greatest thing was that transitional thing to get the kids going to reagan high school and just that scaryness that comes with going from middle school over to high school. And I thought that was one of the most valuable programs that you had there.
>> I知 glad you brought that up because one of the very exciting things is the boys and girls club made a decision this year. They were paying a lot of rent for their northeast Austin club, and because of the success that we have had at webb with the boys and girls club being on the campus, they made a decision this they thought campus base was the way to go. So i'll let dave tell about what we're going to do to expand our services.
>> to really thank you folks. You gave us a chance to be at webb and that really opened the door with the school district. As a result we're able to take the same budge fret the northeast club and now that we're getting rid of rent, utilities, trash removal, the same budget allowing us to open two sites, one at burnet middle school and definitely in need in that community and the other one I知 proud to say we're going to be at reagan high school. That will -- that is tapbtment to a teen center and we're happy to be working with reagan and the community to make that happen. Their community action community voted unanimously to invite the boys and girls club in. Now the students from webb and pierce as they feed into reagan, there will be a consistency at all of those sites.
>> and boys and girls club is maintaining their presence at pierce. They are going to be providing on-site services at pierce in addition to harris elementary school. No students are going to be left behind. They are actually going to be expanding how many students they can serve for the same amount of money. Very exiting.
>> because for the first time in the northeast section of town we're taking kids from harris to pierce to reagan. So the kids will have a boys and girls club presence throughout their school career.
>> we talked about maybe coming back [inaudible] there was a lot of questions asked during that time in the meeting before we heard it before today, and of course pierce and webb and the schools that we basically had targeted for the Travis County after school program. And then the expansion and then all of the other type of partners I guess -- call them partners that have been embedded into what we're doing here. And it appears with increase in the number of youth that are being served, it appears that you're going in a real good direction and it appears that your performance appears to be top notch. Rhyme really impressed. At some points there may be expansion problems because you mentioned reagan high schools, they are not the only schools in the district that have problems. At some point it appears to me that if this is successful to the point we need to move forward and continue to move forward, at some point we'll have to start looking at the other concerns or other students that are in this aisd setting because there are other youth having similar problems to those as webb, pierce, reagan and down the line. You brought up burnett just a little bit ago as far as their -- somewhere along the line, not today, but southeastern along the line I need to be told where else you are looking to look at these problem schools whereby we don't lose a youth to alternative other than, you know, what we'll have to pay for at gardner betts. I知 not going to put that on you right now, but that's something I want to look at.
>> actually the Travis County [inaudible] they are going to conduct another survey. The survey that we conducted for this purpose is now three years old. So it's time for us to do it again. And that will give us an opportunity to see where there are other areas of town that we need to go in. Again, it will probably confirm what our suspicions are. We kind of already know where we are. But with the success of this program and we'll actually have a lot more information after next year because then we can compare the data from what we have this year on the children that are participating in this after school program, we'll be able to compare data against their out comes in a year. And we'll have a much better idea of whether or not our programming is really being successful. We're already looking at the future and how to expand.
>> the information I requested during those meetings, it appears -- you were there, appears a lot of that is here before us today. Had some real legitimate concerns. So thank you.
>> if you are manned torely removed from a school, are you able to participate once you return?
>> yes, when you return.
>> in fact, we would encourage it. S.
>> well, we do think this is a very successful model and in regards to your comment, I think that we all are constantly looking for funding and looking for ways to expand this model. The way we're doing it is different from the way anybody else does it and it's not completely wrap-around services, but we're getting there. The fact that we can take a child with all kinds of needs and try to meet their needs whether it's just being in an enrichment class or having some type of intense intervention with them and their family and we can almost diagnose and refer students to services. So we're always looking for ways that we can expand this model, and we really appreciate what the county has done. This is a tphubg use of something bigger than we could have imagined. People call me wanting to be a part of what we're doing because they are excited by it. And I知 excited by it and I think that you are going to see great things and I think it's important that we continue for another year so that we do have that comparative data between year 1 and year 2.
>> are we able to determine academic improvement?
>> yes, we are. We have -- currently we do have grade information in the report. I am waiting right now for aisd to kind of get all of the taks information together. As soon as I get that, which should be by the end of the week, I will go ahead and give that to deborah and make sure she gives that information to you. We don't have it available right now, but aisd is a little slow. They have -- they take social studies --
>> [inaudible].
>> the answer is on the way, yes. Thank you. Thank you.
>> thank you all very much for that report.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:49 AM