because under penal codes, we were mandated to look at the jails in the county. we visited the san bruno facility, the 850 brand facility, the mental health facility at sanfrancisco general, we went to the juvenile area, and then down to log cabin. we were pleasantly surprised at the change in log cabin after reading the 2004-2005 civil grand jury report, reading various news articles. this is the commendation and congratulations report. not all reports from the simple grandeur or negative. just most of them. -- civil grand jury are negative. the group of us, five of us on this particular committee, made up two men, three women.

one is a retired clinical social worker, a retired associate dean of a law school, her legal tutor, security administrator, businesswoman, and retired high school principal. log cabin is a juvenile facility -- facility 45 miles south of the city. one reason we were concerned about this area, in doing some of the research, we saw many of the individuals were not being sent to log cabin. they were being sent out to places like glen mills, george jr. facility, in pennsylvania, so we asked, why would we do that? i think we saw some of the negatives in the past and saw log cabin moving toward positive horizons in the future. some of the changes that have occurred, we have a strong leadership team. just a great people. if you ever put saints up on the

city hall, you can put them up there somewhere. they have also have a nice sound and tested philosophy. they have moved to the missouri model, a strong rehabilitation system for youth. they have strong partners in the san francisco conservation corps, urban sprawl, city library, wonderful court judge in judge kelly, and the san francisco school district, just to name a some of them. the san francisco unified school district, mr. fabian, has moved from being the principal of the alternative schools in the district, and has gone back to being a teacher at log cabin. it took a great deal of a pay cut to do that, but he is -- truly believes in the system, it believes in the young men at log cabin. they have instituted a new program, the cohort-based

system, and log cabin does not have a fence. neither does the small organizations at san mateo, the with juvenile facility there. they have a warning system for the neighbors in case anybody walks away. they have a telephone emergency notification system. physical improvements. if you think about their facilities as a pig, they have sort of put lipstick on the pig. they have tried to make it look better, but unfortunately, the pig is getting old. the doors inside, the recreation hall and library they have made better. the dining hall. these are all from the 1950 costs. they need assistance in the tax in those buildings. there are other invented, cooperative programs, including a joint collaborative reentry

team that has worked with the public defender's office. one of the problems we had there was old conflict between public defender and juvenile probation department. that seems to be easing, and maybe with time, energy, results, with continued coordination, and obviously, results being the most important thing, that effort will come forth and maybe some of the friction will lesson. truly, it is an underutilized facility. that is one of our recommendations. there should be an additional cohort added, an additional 12 young men down there, so more can benefit from the program. i know that when i saw those young men -- i have been retired for four years from being a high school principal. i thought i'd never get involved in youth again. you look at these guys, and they are the future for us.

hopefully, they will grow up to be great human beings who will contribute to the city and who will pay part of my social security. i got so excited about this program i became a volunteer, a court appointed special advocate. i am excited about helping kids in foster care. i think our group thought about this whole situation and went back to the philosophy of what is important in society? in a civilization? it is how you treat those people who are underserved, who cannot help themselves, whether they be old people, in this case, young adolescents who need help, some assistance to move onto the next level of their life. that is why we are so excited about this program. we think it is a great program. but it needs assistance when it comes to funding and support.

hopefully, everyone will have the opportunity to go down there. i hope all of the supervisors have had a chance to see this facility. we will leave you with that, and a nice report. supervisor campos: thank you, mr. smith. again, thank you for your work, and also, thank you for focusing on this very important item, which i think it is one of the more important things we are doing as a city, from my perspective. not only the actual work, but what it means. so with that, let us hear from the chief, who has been recommended for sainthood -- as we heard. >> forgive me, supervisors. i am a little embarrassed. chief probation officer. i am very delighted to appear on behalf of the department to share for presentation today.

i appear at today's hearing, along with assistant probation officers, who have really propelled the new log cabin grant program into being. there are the principal planners iand designers and caretakers of the new program. there would be no log cabin rich program without their vision and leadership. certainly, they will be able to respond to any question that may come up after i conclude this report. log cabin branch is a key component in the san francisco juvenile justice system. it serves as a sentencing alternative to the division of juvenile justice and out of state placements for chronic of delinquents.

log cabin branch is of significant importance to the city's commitment to youth, in light of the 2005 moratorium on cya commitments passed by the supervisors, said bill 81 which provides funding for counties to serve you to would otherwise in the past been sentenced to bthe djj. the new alignment of the prison system initiative is under way, and signaling of divestitures. this is what places log cabin ranch as an important ingredient in the juvenile justice system here. the probation department offers its sincere gratitude to linda clarity, chair smith, and all of the jurors who conducted this audit and prepared a most

comprehensive reports. they came to log cabin ranch with eyes open, mines open, year's open, and hearts open. they engaged with our staff, log cabin ranch personnel, our partners, our system partners, parents, and most importantly, our youths. the department supports the findings and recommendations offered by the civil grand jury and will address all issues in a timely basis. our formal response has already been submitted to your committee for your review. we are grateful for the attention and bright light path -- cast upon log cabin ranch. the title of the report, moving toward positive horizons, to me, that signals a positive course that jpd is on, as well as the positive course being established for all log cabin ranch youth, leading them to

positive horizons. the improved living conditions, educational and vocational programming, after care planning, and life skills development, serve as the foundation, our fundamental formula for these positive horizons. now, we have only been in this new mode for a little more than two years, but the early outcome data are very encouraging and promising. of the 44 youths who completed the log cabin ranch program to date, 67% remain arrest-free on new law violations. now let's take a look at the national levels of recidivism. it is almost reversed. there is a 67% recidivism rate. we are talking about a 65% operating success rate.

86% of the 44 were employed upon graduation from log cabin ranch. 100% of the graduates from log cabin ranch were enrolled in school, some even in college or vocational program at the time of release. while we recognize we are definitely on the right course, towards a positive horizon, there is much more we can do to improve the long-term outcomes for our youth. we remain hopeful that the department's commitment to log cabin ranch youth reflected in the civil grand jury report will attract the full support of the board of supervisors and the mayor's office in our plan to strengthen our capacity and that of the new log cabin ranch program. jpd remains grateful for the support i received from our ranch partners, a san francisco unified school district, the

conservation corps, the san francisco public library, urban sprouts, and department of public health. we are grateful for and will continue to rely upon our juvenile justice system partners for their encouragement, support, constructive suggestions on ways to improve outcomes. we acknowledge our log cabin ranch staff for their faith and belief in our new approach grounded in evidence-braced practices, that they apply now on a 24-7 basis. finally, we must the knowledge of the contributions made by our youth for their efforts in helping to rebuild the new log cabin ranch program, for it was their response to the new model that exceeded our expectations and actually helped us learn ways that we could be more affected in our work. chair campos, i want to extend our appreciation, even before this reached the calendar of

this committee, you took time out of your busy schedules to visit log cabin ranch and interact with the youth there. it really helps put this report, our presentation, and future plans in perspective. i want to thank the committee for allowing us this opportunity to respond. we will be happy to answer any questions. i am asking chief nantz and director mickey if there are any other areas that you would like us to augment or answer any questions. certainly will be here to answer them. supervisor campos: thank you for being here. thank you to the staff for being here. let me say, for me, a visiting log cabin ranch was one of the most impact all things i have done. it was of very informative and moving experience to see the work that you were doing, to be able to interact with the young people that are there.

i think it puts in perspective what we do what we do. i especially want to single out your staff assigned there, the leadership of mr. nantz and mrs. mcgee. would you go there, it is clear that these people really care, want to improve the lives of these young people and to make the most of their limited resources, and the personal touches that are added from the effort from ms. mcgee, making sure it is a welcoming environment -- i just think it is something that is moving, something that i encourage my colleagues to take the time to visit. it will really impact you. i do not know if you want to add

anything. i do want to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment, or the amazing work happening there. and thank you again, chief. before i call on a couple of different agencies, i would like to ask the mayor's office to come up, if i may. i wanted to say, while i appreciate the responses, one of the responses that i certainly do not agree with is something that i would like to hear directly from the mayor's office on the, and that is the response to recommendation no. 5. finding 5, which the mayor's

office agrees with, says, due to the age of the building, circa 1950, structural improvements to the ranch are greatly needed. the mayor's office agrees with that recommendation. -- with that finding. recommendation 5 says the mayor and board of supervisors should immediately provide capital funding for long neglected infrastructure needs. then your response requires further analysis. i do not know if you have this added the ranch -- >> i have not. supervisor campos: i will tell you, it does not take more than a couple of minutes being at the ranch, walking around, seeing what it looks like, to understand why this response does not make a lot of sense.

i really do believe that this recommendation is right on target. i believe the mayor and board of supervisors should immediately provide capital funding for the neglected structural needs. i would encourage the mayor's office to visit the ranch, because i think you will see for yourself, this is a no-brainer. any thoughts as to why your response is requires further analysis? >> thank you for letting me speak. similar to my previous presentations several weeks back, with respect to the ethics commission, any time there is a budgetary impact, our response has always been requires further analysis because we are not entirely sure what the future will hold for the next fiscal cycle, and maybe the civil grand

jury may want to weigh in on the construct for responding. there are responses that we could give to the civil grand jury, agreed, already implemented -- will be implemented, disagree, will not be implemented. one of the reasons, while we agree there has to the work done for log cabin ranch and we are working through our capital planning process, working with the folks at general probation to address the needs during this current fiscal year, we just do not know what the budget is going to look like for the next fiscal year. we just want to be mindful. we are not 100% sure what resources will be available, especially as the supervisors are aware. there are a lot of capital needs

throughout the city and we need to prioritize. capital needs for the arts institutions, public health institutions, police stations, fire stations, city hall even. we just had to take everything into consideration. i do understand this is an important facility, and the mayor agrees that it is, so we want to work with the chief and his staff throughout the year to address things that can be addressed in the current fiscal year and also work with the department for the planning process for the upcoming fiscal year. supervisor campos: i guess where i disagree with that approach is this -- i have been around long enough to know that when it comes to something like making capital improvements of the kind that are clearly needed here, the first step is having a commitment, and once the commitment is there, you find a way of making that commitment

happen. i will be honest with you, i would have a hard time -- and i would not be able to do this going to be log cabin ranch and explain to these young people -- that we are ready to have to get back to them. to see if these basic quality of life improvements that are needed are going to be possible, even though we have a $6.7 billion budget in the city and county of san francisco. i could not say that. so i would encourage you to visit. i thing that is part of the first that. i do not know if the mayor has gone. >> i can double check on that. our staff has gone on occasions. we are willing to go back out there with the chief and his staff. supervisor campos: is there a commitment on behalf of the

mayor's office to follow up on this item and maybe we can come back in one month to see where that is? >> definitely. again, one of the reasons that we said that it requires further analysis is because it is an ongoing process. we are not saying that we are not going to think about this was the hearing is over. we are happy to do that and bring in the a corporate folks from my office. supervisor campos: maybe we can all take a field trip. thank you. why don't we hear from the district attorney's office? >> good morning, supervisors. kathryn miller. director of policy. very briefly, i want to echo what has been said already about the report and about log cabin ranch. for me and as a department, we think the program has made tremendous gains.

great placement for the young people that we send there. we look forward to be actively involved in continuing program development for log cabin. supervisor campos: thank you very much. public defender's office? ms. lee. >> good morning, supervisors. i want to thank the soul a grand jury for this excellent report. it is a big change from the 2005-2006 report. frankly, one of the reasons why there has been this culture change is because of the collaboration that has occurred among the stakeholders. that being the probation department, district attorney's office, the court, our office, and community-based organizations, in helping to turn the log cabin ranch program around.

the idea, when we were initially involved in the planning committee, was to develop a program where our youth do not have to go out of state to pennsylvania, glen mills, george jr. i did a kurd count on our george jr. population. nine of our clients are out of state in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. i would hope as this program moves forward, we have no use going on to georgia junior or glen mills because the facility that at log cabin ranch is far enough away from the city where there is not that temptation for our clients to run away, but moreover, what is important, the family reunification efforts of the ranch administration to transport parents on the weekend. i also want to shed light, however, on the reentry planning

for our clients. currently, as i speak today, we have nine clients who have failed in the ranch. two are in court facing robbery and assault charges. four were vote on probation and were committed to out of home placement, some of them going to be out of state facilities. i would urge the board of supervisors. i know it is one of the findings and recommendations, that there be funding, not only for capital improvement, but i think we really need immediate funding to develop a strong reentry program, as we have in our juvenile collaborative reentry court. i know it is a lot of acronyms, and bubut it has intensive servs for kids in foster care. we can develop this very same

strong, intensive model for our highest risk youth at the ranch. we have had really good success. ms. mcgee has been monitoring the progress. unfortunately, it is only for our public defender clients. it is now a nationally recognized. the supreme court justice of california visited and they actually generated a video from the visit at our court. there is actually -- there is absolutely no reason that we do not develop the same model for these youth. the minute they go into reentry they do a group -- they do a great program at the ranch -- but there are too many risks when they return home. we need much more family involvement, and we need to work with these youth from the very day they are committed to the ranch.

we have an excellent support system of youth advocates and social workers, and i am committed, from our office, to have each client of our office committed to the ranch, to have a dedicated youth advocate work with that child and work with the probation department and partners at the ranch, throughout the period that that child is resigning at the ranch, and to work with the team to develop strong reentry. that is a very strong need. i am hoping that we can work together to develop this model. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. now we will hear from an important partner in the rich, the sanfrancisco unified school district. i see we have a number of folks from the school district. i would ask them to please come forward. welcome to the government audit and oversight committee. >> thank you and good morning.

janet schultze, superintendent of high schools and have supervised the ranch for the last two years. i want to say thank-you to the civil grand jury for all their work in the report, a debt of gratitude to probation or all of their work. the change they have implemented at the ranch really makes it easier for us to do a much more positive and robust educational model. some of the changes we have implemented over the last year -- you heard about the change in the lead teacher. teachers would profit-based learning, and something that you cannot put a price tag on, passion for the kids. he has a familiarity with that. bringing more of the project- based to the young people down there.

i would disagree with the recommendations that we would love to see the ridge utilized more fully and have a more robust enrollment. that would help us increase our funding and ability to add even more staff. we currently have three teachers and a professional. also reiterate the call regarding the facility. it is going to be difficult to increase the enrollment to a certain degree without making the improvements needed to the structures of the facility. again, i was down there as well -- a few times i have been there. the atmosphere is fabulous. what folks have done with the cosmetics of the place is really commendable. they did a lot with what they had to work with. i think that is great. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. i also see other members of the staff. thank you for your work as well. before we turn to public

comment, chief, i wanted to do a comment -- follow up to what miss lee had brought up, the issue of recidivism, trying to enhance programming around that, at our efforts around that. i wonder if you have any thoughts about that? >> alison mcgee. we have got a lot about that. we are certainly aware of the challenges we face in terms of strengthening the program. reentry is critical. one of the changes we made when we developed this new model is we have dedicated two probation officers to log cabin. they are up there while the youth is residing and they stay with them as they transition home. there is much more continuity. the challenge is, the workload for those probation officers is tremendous. they are not able to offer the same level of intensive support that our