State Allots Funds for Cutting Down on Juvenile Offenses

The Orange County Department of Education will receive $1.14 million from the state over the next three years in a program intended to reduce the number of juvenile offenders and help them complete their education, school officials said Monday.

Ten California school agencies were awarded a share of the $10-million Targeted Truancy and Public Safety Demonstration Grant program provided by the state Department of Education. Orange County’s portion will be used to help schools establish counseling, family-support services and other youth programs for troubled teens.

“This is a great boon for us,” said Byron Fairchild, project director for the county’s Targeted Truancy program. “This is a chance for us to pull a lot of agencies together . . . and address the needs of our at-risk students, as opposed to incarcerating them or putting them under correctional supervision.”

The goal of the grant is to combine the efforts of schools, probation departments, law enforcement agencies and social and youth services such as Boys and Girls clubs, Fairchild said.

Schools will work with the organizations to identify high-risk students and help them focus on school and stay out of trouble, he said.

“Most dropouts and many prison inmates have in common that they are chronic truants in school,” said Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public instruction.

The county juvenile offense prevention program is expected to being in August, Fairchild said.