School/Probation Office Connections
Location: Butte-Silverbow County Court and Butte School District, Butte, Montana
Description
Two-way, interactive video, both desktop and room-size systems, are installed in the probation office, schools, and the court room. The systems are used by a probation officer in interactions with students on probation and their teachers, counselors and parents. Judges also use them for arraignments and hearings with probationers or others in the court system. Such interactions using this technology save travel time and increase the frequency of procedures involving students while maintaining the privacy of the interactions and preserving their in-school and in-classroom time. The systems save time and result in more timely and effective attention to students.
Student information
Students are typically secondary students who are on probation for various
offenses, and who are required to meet with both probation officers and school
officials on a regular basis. It is also used with students who otherwise would
need to be absent from school for hearings or other court appearances.
Contacts
The practitioners describe the project in terms of Vision and Goals, Student Impact, Other Impact, Cost and Funding, Technical Considerations, and Other Considerations.
Marko Lucich, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer, Butte-Silverbow County Court and Kate Stetzner, Superintendent, Butte Public Schools
Comments from two practitioners...
Vision and Goals
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"We're quite excited about the interactive video because, number one,
it will cut down on the amount of time that a probation officer has to travel
from our office to the schools and the amount of time that will be spent for
that. With this type of videoconferencing, we can have the youth and the
parents, if needed, and school officials on the school site while the probation
officers, within a matter of minutes, are connected to them and do interactive
conferencing with one another. One area that we definitely want to use, and
will be using videoconferencing is with truancies. It's pretty ludicrous to
ask the youth to be in school and yet take them out of school to report to the
probation office to handle the case. By using videoconferencing, we can keep
the youth in school, and really cut down the amount of time that would be
needed for the parents and youth to either come to our office or for us to go
down to the school."
"The next area we think is very important is youth that are on probation or on detention also. Let's say they use the detention and say, 'Well, we can't come to probation because we're on detention.' Then they [also] say, 'We can't come to detention because we're on probation.' Detention doesn't see them and probation doesn't see them. So what we'll be doing with videoconferencing with the youth that are on detention is have them check in with us via videoconferencing right after school and then report right to detention. That way we will have a face-to-face contact via videoconferencing but also make them remain in the building so that they don't leave school and probably skip out on detention."
"The third area is the probation youth that are on intensive supervision and possibly on electronic monitoring. With the combination of the electronic monitoring and the videoconferencing, we would be notified when the youth leaves their home via fax machine with the electronic monitoring. When they got to school, we would have them check into the probation office via videoconferencing, and that way we could make sure they were in school. Also with youth, we see patterns where they skip a lot of times: first period which is the beginning of the school day, fourth period which is on the lunch hour, or sixth period which is right before the end of school. They should only be gone for 25 minutes [at lunch], and sometimes they're gone for an hour and a half for all 3 lunches. We can have the youth that are violating and skipping school check in at those various times so that they remain in the building."
"The fourth area we think is very important is youth that are on probation. The schools know what youth are on probation. If they do start to act out, they would be able to sit with the Dean of Girls or Dean of Boys in the office where the videoconferencing is, and actually contact our office. The probation officer on the case could intervene within minutes of an infraction happening within the school building. We think the immediacy of the intervention will be much better than if it took an hour, or 2 or 3 hours, or even maybe the next day to get to the issue."
"I would say the educational aspect is the foundation of our vision, but from that a lot has grown and we're building on that foundation. My goal, starting out with Butte, is to have a videoconferencing machine in every school in the school district. We also have a detention facility in our community and I want a videoconference machine in that facility also. The reason for that is if a youth is in detention for say up to 10 days, then the youth is basically cut off from their education."
Stetzner, School Superintendent:
"I truly believe that classroom teachers, law enforcement officers,
probation officers and department of family service workers will all become a
team. As we establish site-based school safety teams, we need to be able to
have two-way conferencing where were going to be able to make sure the kids
don't leave the educational setting, but they take care of the issues that
are outside issues. We have alternative services and services provided for them
at the school, because we're here to make them productive members of
society and when they leave we may not see them for a while."
Student Impact
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"I feel it's [videoconferencing] going to be of great benefit, and
these are the reasons why. For example, right now, if a youth is having some
problems here in the school building, the school calls up and asks one of the
probation officers to come to that building for an intervention. The probation
officer could be tied up and could not leave the building, for example, for an
hour or two hours, or maybe not even until the next day. By that time the
problem is in the background, and also the youth has probably forgotten about
it."
"Then the frustration starts to build: 'Well, the probation officer couldn't come down to the building today. If they could have come down, it really would have helped us out.' With this type of equipment, we could have done that intervention immediately, and with juveniles, the more immediate the consequences, the more effective they are. The longer we wait with consequences the less effective they are. By not intervening immediately, it gives the youth or the child the thought or perception that it really wasn't that important, or their behavior was ok. I think that's very important, when they realize their behaviors were not ok, and that we are going to try to intervene as quickly as possible. Through this technology, we will be able to do that."
Other Impact
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"When I think about videoconferencing, I get very excited. Being in
probation for 23 years, this is one of the greatest tools that I've seen in
many ways. I am quite excited about Butte, Montana being a pilot project, not
only for the state but also probably for the entire United States, utilizing
this type of equipment. I see this in the future. More and more we're going
to have to rely on this type of equipment. As budgets start to deplete on a
local level, at the state level and the federal level, we're going to have
to look at ways we can save money and still be effective in what we do. I see
utilizing this type of equipment as hopefully beating those costs, and being
able to still function effectively as probation officers, do our job, and do
what's in the best interest of the youth, and try to help them get through
very difficult times. Without it, I see the job getting more and more difficult
and probation officers, because of the demands, becoming less and less
effective."
"What's happening right now is that people are transporting youth all over the state; we are spending this amount of time out of the office. This would not happen in the future if all of the places in the state of Montana had this type of equipment. The very important part here is that right now we are spending two days on one youth just for transportation purposes. For probable cause [hearings], even if it's here in Butte, where the detention facility is only approximately 8 miles from the courthouse, it still ties up the probation officer or the transporter 2 to 3 hours, which includes the time they go down to get the youth, bring the youth to the hearing, wait for the time of the hearing, take the youth back to the facility, and come back to the court house. With videoconferencing, we could do that probable cause hearing in 5 to 7 minutes, verses 2 to 3 hours, and that's very important. Although we have the capabilities here at the courthouse, the detention facility does not have the capabilities at this point, but we're working on that right now. Even on the adult system as far as arraignments are concerned, we're tying up 1 to 3 officers to bring the prisoners to the courtroom, and they're being held up for 2 or 3 hours waiting for arraignments. Once we get this technology going we can do that in 5 to 10 minutes."
"What I really like about this equipment is that with our own ISDN lines and the interactive video, it's just between that person and us and there's not someone who can be cutting into what's happening. So we can preserve the confidentiality."
Cost and Funding
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"I think it's very important as professional people, that we do not
let the cost factors of this be an obstacle. There are numerous sources for
funding out there. If we look at Butte, Montana, our economy is not that great,
but we have had no problems in obtaining these machines, or anything we've
needed for videoconferencing. I think if you look at the grants through which
we have gotten some of the videoconferencing technology, that's one area.
Another is writing grants through the Board of Crime Control throughout the 50
states. Right now, we're working with our U.S Senator, Conrad Burns, who
has before the United States Senate a proposal in excess of $600,000 to fund
this equipment for the entire state of Montana for probation offices and
detention facilities. I think it's very important to go to your
congressman, your senators, your local governments, and your state governments.
Also, there are foundations that are more than willing to give monies for this
type of technology. Butte was the recipient of $100,000 through a foundation
for 10 videoconferencing machines that was basically the start-up for our
community. There are many funding sources out there. It's just a matter,
first of all, determining that you want this type of equipment, how it's
going to benefit you, and then going after sources, and not letting a lack of
funding be an obstacle for you."
Technical Support
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"Every community has a person who would have expertise in this field, and
seeking out and finding this person to work on the project with you would be
very beneficial. In my particular case, not having very much knowledge as far
as the running of this equipment is concerned, finding that person was very
important and the key factor in us getting going in this community and getting
our technology up and running. It's just a matter of finding someone who
has the expertise and the knowledge and working with them, and asking them for
their help. Just by finding that person, there is no reason why you can't
get the technology up and running. That person who is the expert can help you
as far as the technical problems are concerned. Without a person who knows the
technology and videoconferencing, how the technology operates, we would not be
able to have this in our community, very definitely not."
Other Considerations
Lucich, Probation Officer:
"The major obstacles that I see are fears, as far as humans are concerned.
You have to realize it's no different than if you have a telephone that
doesn't work maybe one time, you don't stop using the telephone
forever, you pick it up again until it does work. That's a minor obstacle,
but in some people's minds it becomes a major obstacle if they really
don't want to use this equipment. I am basically computer illiterate, and I
see no problems in dealing with this equipment. It's been very simple for
me to use, and if I can do it anyone can do it."