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Norwalk
Youth Services Advisory Board Minutes
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CITY OF NORWALK
YOUTH SERVICES COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
DECEMBER 11, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Peter Wien, Chairman; Maria Borges-Lopez, Anthony Daddona,
Director of Secondary Education; Candace Mayer, Norwalk Housing Authority; Anna
Duleep, teacher; Officer Greg Riley, Norwalk Police Department
STAFF: Linda Wilock, Director of Youth Services
OTHERS: Larry Manzi, IT Department; Karen DelVelcchio, IT Director
CALL TO ORDER
Mr. Wien called the meeting to order at 4:12 p.m.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
The following change was noted:
Under ATTENDANCE, please add “Ms. Candace Mayer, Norwalk Housing Authority (4:35 p.m.)”
** MS. MAYER MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES FOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 AS CORRECTED.
** MR. DADDONA SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
UPDATE ON THE WEBSITE PROJECT
Ms. Wilock said that at the last meeting, the Commission had discussed privacy and linking policies. Ms. Wilock said that she had made copies of the City of Norwalk policies and that she had checked a number of teen websites. Norwalk appears to have a more comprehensive policy than a number of other municipalities.
Ms. Wilock said that it had been also decided to review the agencies to keep the calendar up to date. Ms. Wilock said that she had checked The Norwalk Resource Directory, which is on the City’s website, for additional events for the calendar.
Ms. Wilock then distributed copies of the some of the upcoming events to the Commission members.
Mr. Manzi suggested that the After School Alliance might be a good resource.
Mr. Manzi also said that he could give a student access to calendar from their
home computer.
A discussion then followed about the monitoring issues involved.
Mr. Wien asked if there was a way that a student could get academic credit for working on the webpage. Mr. Daddona said that he would speak to the department heads that would handle web page design. Mr. Manzi said that the link for the site is active and gave the URL for everyone to review. Mr. Daddona said that he would speak to the department heads and get back to Ms. Wilock. Officer Riley asked about the Housing Authority after school class on web design. Ms. Mayer explained that the class was intermittent.
The discussion then returned to monitoring the calendar submissions. Mr. Wien suggested that the calendar be limited to only one month in advance. Mr. Manzi suggested that it would also be possible to change the calendar component so that the calendar would be generated by the City. Currently the calendar is generated by a third party company. This would allow the City to monitor the calendar submission. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that the published would only come from the schools and recognized organizations. The students will be allowed to set the format but the actual content will come from the City agencies and departments.
Ms. DelVecchio and Mr. Manzi left the meeting at 4:53 p.m.
JUVENILE REVIEW BOARD
Ms. Wilock said that she wanted to give a brief overview of the upcoming juvenile review, which is a way of diverting children from the juvenile justice system. It would be only available to those first offenders who have not committed a serious crime where the offender and his family agree that the action did occur. This program would redirect the students into a system where they had access to the services they need. The State of Connecticut is very interested in looking at this type of program. Some of the issues like being truant or running away from home are not crimes for adults, but are for minors.
Mr. Wien said that he had participated in a program at the University of Colorado Criminology Department where the students took on the role of a Volunteer Parole Officer with troubled youth. This program had become very popular and worked well.
Ms. Wilock said that Boards in New Britain and Stamford for ideas. She also
mentioned the concept of “restorative justice” which is where the perpetrator
restores the damage done to the victim, with the victim’s permission.
Participants sign a contract with the Juvenile Review Board, and if the participant
defaults, then the case is turned back over to the court.
OTHER
Mr. Wien said that he though if the website could pick up momentum, he’d be very pleased. Guidelines need to be in place and when problems arise, they need to be dealt with rapidly.
ADJOURNMENT
** MR. DADDONA MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Service
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