insomnia because they have nightmares at night and they cannot sleep. those are some of the issues that have come up, so we do a lot of assessment or investigations in working with our young people. fortunately, our staff has the background that we do have, but we also have our personal experience, so we are often able to identify with those young people and be able to ask the right questions to get more deeper information, and that is the work that we will be continuing to do. sometimes -- again, there are a lot of issues that come up, and we have had issues that come up on safety. bullying in school. we have had issues about insomnia, nightmares. we have had kids who have been victims of violence in their past. the issue is deeper a lot of times than just an alarm clock, and our work is to really dig deep into that, and we understand that we cannot do this work alone, and that is why

we rely heavily on the resources that are out in the community, because there are issues that maybe a little beyond our scope where we have to connect with other organizations to do that work. >> thank you very much, and if i may follow on something you said about working with existing resources. i believe that some of our collective issue is that the existing resources were not able to figure out, you know, how to fit the pieces to this puzzle together, and we are part of the existing resources. how will you be able to reinvigorate or how's this -- have those existing resources take a fresh look at what they're doing? maybe you need someone else to take a look at that, but if they had a program and have been doing this work and have not been able to help solve the issue, and you are new to the table, how will you be able to have those partners reassess what they are doing? >> i will let liz speak to that.

>> i would like to say that the beauty of this collaboration is that we have a lot of decision makers and people in the right places to help us figure out how to better navigate the system because navigating school system is not an easy task. navigating mental health is not an easy task, so you need folks that are savvy and understand the intricacies of these organizations. i think we have that available to us around the tarc table. i would like to give an example of one of the referrals and how we have to connect the dots. 1/3 of the referrals that come in the family resource centers from their differential response caseload -- these are individuals who have had sepias calls made against them for various reasons -- had cps calls

made against them, said at the family research center, they would call in to get support. one case in point is a young woman who was 13, 14 years old that attended washington high school and was not going to school because -- for safety reasons. when our case managers were able to delve deeper, there was some speculation about her prostituting herself and not feeling safe going to school, amongst her peers and simply have not gone. so it takes a real savvy case manager mental health professional, school district staff, community workers to figure out a strategy and a plan and how to resourced and support that family and that young person to get her comfortable and be engaged in school. is it a different placement of school? perhaps. does she have other academic

needs and support? is she falling behind? how do we help her catch up? how do we get some mental health counseling for her to overcome some of the social problems she has been exposed to or experienced with? to get this young person back on a track of normalcy? if there is such a thing. that is the kind of -- and she asked for one type situation, and i know it is very graphic, but our young people are facing a number of social problems. but understand, is how to navigate cps, how to get them off your back if you are a family member, yet get the support that you need. how to find another placement for your young person if that is indeed what she needs. how to get her surrounded with hears that will not make her feel unsafe at school. these are some of the intricacies we're having to deal with and support young people in. it is proving that it works.

before, we were only able to do it on a small scale. now we have 4500 young people we hope we will be able to attract and support. with varying degrees, of course, but i just want to say kind of a deeper example of how we need to connect mental health, cps, school district, police, community. it is very complicated. again, we did not mean to make it seem as if it was a really simple situation, but if they are chronic or habitual truant, the situations are multi-pronged and very complicated. thank you. commissioner kim: i walked in a little bit late, so i hope -- i do not know if this was already asked. when does tarc start? and what is the expected capacity in terms of number of students that you can serve? >> tarc has already started, but

i will have list speak about the details -- i will have liz speak about the details. the facility is open and has been opened. that is why they are presenting on some of the day-to-day work that is being done currently. the only difference is that we have not had the increase of referrals that we had in september, given the school will not be starting until august. but there is individuals that have been referred from the other partners tarc back has been working with individuals -- that tarc has been working with individually. commissioner kim: when did you open? >> may 3. commissioner kim: when did you start serving students? >> [inaudible] that day, at a clock 40 a.m. , and i would like to ask officer perillo to come up to talk about some of the rollout from the police department as well -- 8:40 a.m.

we wanted to start something, so again, we started that day. actually, that day, at 8:45, a parent brought her son in kicking and screaming. police referral. parent came in with her son. "i cannot make him go to school." which is the better way. we would like to see parents and community utilizing the service as well. but it is supposed to be reciprocated, that the whole community sees this as a resource, but we launched in two communities with the baby station and northern station western addition community because that is where a significant number of referrals for truancy come from as we were launching this pilot, but then officer perillo -- commissioner kim: before you go, i was confused. i thought it was at the goth

street site. >> we only had a few more weeks of school before the service was launched, so we just started a program with those communities, but officer perillo will talk about how we involve the entire force. commissioner kim: before you go, how many students have you served, and what is the expected capacity during the school year? >> for that month, we solved 30 students that came from a variety of sources -- community, parents, d.a., truancy court, schools, so they came from a variety of sources, so we anticipate potentially serving -- i mean, it is a pilot, so even during the pilot, we saw 30 students, so we will probably see twice as many per month. commissioner kim: is that your capacity? you can serve 60 cents a month? >> i think 200 for the whole year.

commissioner kim: currently, you could serve 240 school year? >> afternoon, commissioners and supervisors. some of us have been in this for a while, and is great to have a percolating to the surface. from our end, there is a department bulletin that will instruct the officers around the procedures and piggyback off an existing one that had the whole trouble services involved in their, but instead, we put tarc in there, and we are encouraging officers to engage with our youth in a positive way, and intervention way, and a way to recognize that day as the officers are part of the community. basically, they connect with the youth and then make the call to tarc, as you probably heard procedurally, and then with the go ahead, take them to tarc for

the intake, the assessment. supervisor dufty: thank you. could i also invite of the chief of juvenile probation? i appreciate that he came to offer his support. >> one more person that we would like to share. is that ok? >> we have claudia anderson represented of the unified school district, and she is going to share a little bit about some of the overlapping existing resources that are really tied in tarc. >> i'm claudia anderson, and i am sort of a new face to this. in the new director of executive support services, but i'm not new to this population of students. supervisor dufty: as we asked before, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background? >> it is really exciting to be here with liz and christine and

low is because i have known them for years with the work we have done together. my background -- i have been in the school district for a little over 20 years, and all of that time is spent in alternative education, so i have always worked -- i can do in the county programs or in the continuation schools with students who for a variety of reasons have been marginalized, and it has always been a frustration to me because in settings that i work in, it is about relationships. it is about really digging deep and understanding that there are youth, even though we do not like to think about, there are youth who have experience complex multiple trauma in their lives, and it is not as simple as they do not want to go to school where they do not want to learn or whenever we say, so it is really exciting to me to see that we are now looking at this as a city challenge that we need to all work together and bring whatever our pieces are to the

table, and yes, it is true that san francisco unified school district has not been able to solve this, and i can say for me personally in my background, it has been really frustrating -- early in the game when i would have these one-room schoolhouses with maybe two or three teachers and there were no social services, and now, to really see this coming to fruition where we recognize that those issues are the domain of education or the domain of all of us because they are our kids is really exciting, and i'm very new to student support services, so what i can say is that the commitment was there before me to engage in tarc and we did place on may 3 when it opened, we had a counselor from student support services at tarc. we had our student information system established down there so we really could go in and see what was going on, at least

academically. we could see what counseling notes might exist, although again, unfortunately, the things that they are able, through relationship and human kindness, that they are able to honor, are probably not listed in the student information system. they're much deeper. supervisor dufty: given your background in the school district, one of the things that happens is there are some students that we between the city and school district have failed, and this is over a time when the educational deficit is enormous. is that something you will be thinking about? i have heard discussion and times about whether maybe not every student is going to be able to achieve it of " if they are coming in at the latter stages that are not so far behind. is that something that's in terms of your overview, are you going to be looking at some of those types of challenges? >> absolutely. when a student comes to tarc,

that is part of the assessment. you have to look at where they are academically. they are 17 years old and had 32 credits, it does not make too much sense that they will put you back over at washington high school. we really do need to look at what are the educational options that we have both within san francisco unified and within the larger city. there are other options beyond san francisco unified that might support some of the students. job corps might be a good option for someone. a five-piece charter program might be a good option. so i think we need to look beyond just the limits of what sfusd has to offer, but what are the city-wide resources that can serve these you who have been underserved by our system? supervisor dufty: i would offer the in your reporting relationship, you would be reporting to the school district, but i think there's tremendous value in communicating to the city because we really have to look at young people that our aging out into adulthood and may not

have -- they are not going to leave with the skills from school in order to advance successfully, and what we need to do to really prioritize these individuals in other programs that you are describing? whether it is job corps or -- then my ged program. supervisor dufty: there are a number of things we can do, so i think it is essential that there be some strong lines of communication from your leadership and what is going to happen with tarc to the city as a whole. i think we're looking at young people who if the school does not have the tool box to intervene to really get somebody graduating and ready to go on to the next step, whether is training or education, then we have really got to look at meaningfully providing other options. i guess i want to open the discussion and say i think we have got to prioritize the. for us as policy makers, there may be ways that we legislatively or from a funding standpoint create that priority

in terms of workforce programs that the city has. so i just want to really open up that discussion and say that not everyone -- elementary school students, yes, that would be my objective. my goal for elementary or mills will students would be that each and every one of them succeed in the school, the cup -- succeed and this will become the right place for them, but i think there will be a group of individuals who have been filled by the system, and we have to think things through. >> absolutely. >> i'm so glad you're with us at students support services, particularly given your background in working in alternative schools. i had a couple of questions, and this was also for liz. you had talked about some of the top issues that have come up the cause students to be truant, whether it is insomnia, being victims of violence, bullying, worrying about safety.

can we start collecting that kind of data? >> i think that was in their capacity and they are going to document it. commissioner kim: are these actually the top concerns or issues, obstacles that our students are facing the cause truancy? >> specifically, some of the top ones are the transitioning from eighth to ninth grade. that has been a big one. also being so far behind in their work they do not feel prepared or motivated enough to go back to catch up. those are among the top ones that are coming up for the kids we're working with, and we are actively collecting that information, and as we continue to report out, we will be reporting that information because we feel it is very important to be able to identify what specifically those barriers are so we can restructure how we do our work with and our program -- schools, ceos, what have you.

>> coming from a public policy perspective, it is so important for us to have this kind of data for two reasons -- we need to develop an academic and support program that addresses the top truancy challenges that come up for students. if we already know that 30% of our students are not coming to school because of a, then we should have something in place instead of always trying to come up and peace something together. on the flip and for our school district, we need to -- we need our teachers and principals to be able to be aware of what it is that causes students to be frequently true it -- habib truant -- truant before they even end up with you. something that is challenging for us at the board when we deal with expulsion and ec students coming to west neared the end is that they are so far behind is that we actually do not have programs in place for them that

we know will help them become successful and to graduate or even get their ged, and is very frustrating, but it is nice to know the we can start collecting this data and start creating something that is already in place for students. i'm also curious as to how we are partnering with community response network, and have we started working with them in terms of having them also pick up our students, since they are actually out on the streets? >> actually, i do not know what -- i do not know if anyone's to address the specifically, but we have been trying to have summer planning meetings specifically to really wrapped around some of the school services and really looking at trying to support with other city departments specific schools that are open currently, so we are supporting young people, and they are being referred. the crn is supporting young people and referring them directly to community-based agencies. i have been witnessing some of

the amazing worked -- amazing work that has been done. as the neutral, the relationship they have been having with other city departments. >> so they are aware of tarc, and they are going to start using it as a resource for the young people that they work with? >> we have been talking specifically with the coordinators about how we go ahead and wrap around and work closely with some of the case managers, so that is in the work, and following wednesday, that is coming up, we actually have a city department meeting, and we will be talking more about that as we prepare for the fall. >> my last question, and this is related to some of the stories you and liz were talking about, what has been successful? what are some of the success stories that we can model the in terms of having them catch up in credits, transitioning back into school?

what have been some of the models that are actually working? i'm just curious as to what you have found has worked. >> i will be honest -- when it comes to working with truant students, it is very individualized. no one stood in is the same, and what works for one, so there is a need for people working with trichet students to be creative and have the resources to address the issues, and a lot of things that have worked for us is the parental involvement. that has been a big piece. we worked a lot with the parents to engage them in the process. with this case management services, that has been a big piece. being consistent, that long-term support. all of those things that we already know to do, those are very key. we're working very close with the schools and developing

relationships with those teachers and those administrators. they are a very big piece of the success for our young people, and being able to connect them with the resources they need. not just connecting them with the program, but connecting with people. but again, immediacy. and it may not work for that young person. that young person might come to me, but he may not go to the cbo down the street, so what i have to do as a case manager is in some ways become that resource for that young person until they can get to a place to where they are willing to engage cb engage cbo. you know -- and each with that -- engage with that cbo. you have to be creative and willing to go outside the box working with this population, but again, the consistency, parental involvement, having strong relationships with the schools, building relationships with those young people,

immediacy, staying connected, making sure that that relationship is there -- those are the things that work. some young people are ready for change. some young people want to make some changes. and some may not, or they may not want to at the moment. but our job, our model, is to just be that hand when they are ready. -- our motto. we expect our folks to be that hand and be that person when they are ready. we keep an open door policy for our young people. those have been some of the things that have worked in the past. supervisor dufty: one more question. i just want to theorize that i think for a lot of students that are truant in high school, that they might offer the argument here, "i don't have the problem. i have a problem with school, and this school is not working for me." in some cases, students that i have talked with that have been -- months went by before it

heron was contacted, so how do you gain credibility and not just be perceived as trying to put some money back into a situation that is not working with them? is the district going to cooperate in terms of transferring students to programs that may be more likely to succeed for that individual? >> definitely. we understand that young people -- there are some issues that do come up with the students and teachers, and our job is to advocate on behalf of our students, and we do that working with the young people to identify what the challenges may be. sometimes, those issues are valid, and sometimes they're not. sometimes we have to do work with the young people so that they are able to understand why certain things are the way that they are or what have you, but there is a larger issue systemically that also needs to be addressed when working with

young people, and that may be out of our control right now, but we are working with those young people to try to get them to a place where they can make some progress toward academic success in this partnership -- toward academic success. in this partnership, the school district is involved. >> absolutely, there are systemic issues that result in an people deciding not to go to that school anymore. if the staff on as some things that really make it so it is not tenable for a student to be in a particular school, that is our job to work with that student and work with the system to try to make the changes -- if the staff unearthed some things that make it so it is not tenable for a student to be in a particular school. we recognize that we have to change the way we operate, and we have to have more opportunities for students to have a voice. we have to have more

opportunities to engage students in things they are interested in. we have to all to the discipline system that we have used that as an antiquated system, so we do recognize that we need to change, and i'm hoping that we will, because we are trying to start for the place of relationship. that is key -- putting people before paper and rules and processes, so as long as -- if we go into a with the right will to serve the students, then i think we will find ways to navigate the system to benefit these individuals while we are trying to reach will the system, which is a longer term process. >> i want to add that we're looking forward to coming back in september to be able to really highlight some of the successes that we have had, just given the fact that we have had such a short amount of time. we come back in september, we will be able to present more

concrete data that would demonstrate some of the success. thank you. >> thank you, supervisors. chief probation officer, welcoming this opportunity to weigh in on this tremendous initiative that the city is undertaking. supervisor, you ask others to warm up the room. i am always cold to warm up a room. this room has been pretty warm at times for me. i am absolutely delighted and want to register the juvenile probation department's unequivocal support for this approach to truancy and and our gratitude to this body to sponsor this inquiry and to lend

your support to this initiative because it is our firm belief in the field of abating juvenile delinquency that truancy certainly is the farm system for the major league of delinquency, and unabated truancy is the gateway to delinquency, but i'm also here to essentially declared that our beliefs that the remedy of juvenile detention to truancy is one of the most significant reasons why it is not a positive remedy to truancy. the approach that is being taken, that is contemplated through the use of tarc, the attention given to truancy at the early stages is the right course to take. there is a tremendous amount of

data available that indicate that detention is a consequence to simple truancy, and i do not mean simple in the way of not being complex, because as we all know, this is a very complex issue, but i mean truancy that is unrelated to any existing delinquent behavior, that is not an effective remedy. we within the juvenile probation department are very clear about how we will address truancy as it relates to violations of court orders