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CARYing the burden
By John Young
 Has there ever been a worse waste of time than in-school suspension (ISS)?
I know what you're saying: It's better than the alternative, which is keeping a disruptive student in class and making it impossible for others to learn. Can't argue with that. But for chronic troublemakers, is there a worse waste than holding them in a room, making them stick their noses in a book and going through the motions of something against which every fiber in that young body is rebelling?
Wouldn't it be better to deal with the rebellion?
If we don't deal with some of the anger issues bubbling up in these kids, we aren't going to address any other issues they have -- period. Lecture all you want. Punish all you want. At some point the attitude that counteracts everything school has to offer will come to bear on all of us.
Just about all his working life, Adrian Moore has seen this type of behavior -- most of it in juvenile corrections, where no-hope kids are prepped for lives of crime with other no-hopers. Yes, I know the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) sometimes turns children around and even rescues their education. But every juvenile judge will do about anything to avoid sending a child to TYC. The judges even know that just about anything is a better use of a child's time.
So does Moore. That's why he founded the Council on At-Risk Youth (CARY), www.councilonatriskyouth.org.
CARY locates troubled adolescents and helps them deal with their anger so they can start dealing with everything else that school entails. CARY ensures these kids don't make their journeys of self-discovery behind razor wire.
How are students selected for CARY?
"The most powerful predictor is whether [a student] has a serious school incident report," Moore told me last January as he prepared to appeal to Texas lawmakers to build on CARY's success with a state program. His program, now operating in five Austin ISD middle schools and an alternative campus, employs something called Positive Adolescent Choices Training. Students who otherwise would be stewing in ISS or some other form of sanction are led to focus on their thought processes and "anger buttons." This might cause those who utter "bring back the paddle and prayer" to roll their eyes, but Austin ISD reports a 50 percent reduction in serious disciplinary reports and juvenile court referrals for those CARY served.
State lawmakers were sufficiently impressed two years ago for the House to back a $7 million program over two years for comparable programs. It died in the Senate. Similar legislation this year, again heavily supported, didn't make it through the wreckage-strewn 81st Legislature. Disappointing though that might be, there's no excuse for individual school districts not to investigate and employ CARY's methods.
What's the cost, you ask? Well, what is the cost of sending a child up the river to TYC? TYC is about $100,000 a year. And that's just the incarceration. Factor in apprehension and adjudication, not including the anguish victims and families endure, and, well, you burn up that calculator.
But if cost is our sole concern, Moore cites a study that calculates that over 10 years the cumulative tally for one child who drops out and gets involved in crime is $2 million — in lost wages, prosecution, incarceration and probation. Every school district should be finding out what Moore knows. The guy should be Texas' most in-demand man, selling out more stadiums than George Strait.
We know ISS is a waste of time. Before the child starts on the path to other costly black-hole acronyms, every community should be demanding something that diverts them. Every school district should be investigating CARY.
JOHN YOUNG is a columnist for Cox Newspapers. You can see more of his work at www.johnyoungcolumn.com. He can be reached at jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.
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