Jacksonville Youth Academy

Failed compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 1.04 Education Staff Training (Education Contract Provider)

The Educational Provider staff shall complete staff training as outlined within the contract. The contracted educational provider is required to provide its assigned staff with professional development and training as specified in their contract. All ten Flex teachers did not complete the required training as contractually required. All on-site teachers completed all the required training as contractually required except Communications Center/Incident Reporting and Mental Health, and Substance Abuse. Three teachers were also missing the required Adolescent Development training.

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 1.05 Exit Portfolio (Education Contract Provider)

The Educational Provider shall develop and upload an Exit portfolio at least three school days prior to the youth’s exit from a residential commitment program. The contracted educational provider is required to develop and upload an exit portfolio for each youth. Three closed youth records were reviewed. All three had all required and applicable documents with the exception of two records did not contain an Individual Educational Treatment Plan, and all three records did not include a Progress Monitoring Plan or any industry certifications earned.

Failed compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 1.06 Career Education (Education Contract Provider)

Education staff shall develop and implement a career education competency development program. Florida Scholars Academy, the contracted education provider, is currently in the process of developing the Career Education curriculum. At the time of review, no documentation of Career Education was available. Currently, youth at all programs are working with Career Power Workplace Skills workbooks. A review of program activities confirmed no career exploration services are being provided beyond soft skills instruction, which does not meet the requirements of the Florida Administration Code for the program is not incorporating any Type 1 career education nor any additional Type 2 career preparations. The instructional leader indicated career education activities are limited to the use of the workbooks, with no additional curriculum or industry-recognized credential instruction currently available. According to the program schedule, eligible youth participate in Career Power Workplace Skills activities during designated instructional periods Monday through Friday. Interviews with five youth confirmed the absence of career exploration opportunities beyond the soft skills content. Additionally, there has been no lead response from Florida Virtual School (FLVS) regarding supplemental career exploration or coursework options. The absence of structured career exploration programming, beyond soft skills, demonstrates noncompliance with the minimum standard.

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 2.18 Educational Access (Residential Contract Provide)

The program shall integrate educational instruction (career and technical education, as well as academic instruction) into the daily schedule in such a way ensuring the integrity of required instructional time. The program has written facility operating procedures (FOPs) to provide educational access. A review of the program’s activity schedule and the daily academic schedule revealed the program activity schedule aligns with the daily school schedule. Five interviewed youth reported they are receiving education services and there are no educational interruptions. A review of randomly selected days in the logbook for eight months during the annual compliance review period indicated education classes started on time with the exception of two months, which started seven and ten minutes late, however one of the days made up the time through staying over at the end of the day. Two days also revealed students returned from morning break six and twenty-three minutes late. Observations of the program's video were conducted for three days. The footage showed school started three, eleven and thirteen minutes late respectively. The morning break went over twenty to thirty-eight minutes for all three days, which was longer than the scheduled fifteen minutes. Lunch period started six to nine minutes early, and school ended four to fourteen minutes early for all three days reviewed. The average loss of educational time for all three days ranged from thirty-four minutes to one hour and ...

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 2.19 Contract Specific Career and Technical Education

Services (Residential Contract Provider) The program shall implement all career and technical education services (formerly referred to as pre-vocational and vocational services) negotiated or outlined in the contract which are considered Contract Specific Conditions or listed within the Scope of Services Attachment. These may be referenced as the Memorandum of Negotiation (MON), Summary of Negotiated Points, Summary of Supplemental Response Request (SSRR), Best and Final Offer (BAFO), or Special Conditions. Older contracts may not have them clearly identified as a special condition. Career and technical education service instruction shall be provided so the interests, aptitudes, and skills of the youth are developed, while building upon their existing strengths, in a manner supportive of their employability goals which provide an occupational advantage and workforce readiness in their community. These items may exceed the minimum requirements outlined in Florida Statutes and Florida Administrative Code. Under the executed contract, the program is required to deliver Career and Technical Education (CTE) services which lead to career pathways and student outcomes, including instruction toward an Industry Certification from the Master Credentials List, as approved by the Florida Department of Education. The contract further requires youth be enrolled in a CTE training program or program of study within the first three months of admission into the programs. Additionally, all ...

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.01 Youth Supervision (CRITICAL)

Program staff shall maintain active supervision of youth, including interacting positively with youth, engaging in a full schedule of constructive activities, closely observing behavior of youth and changes in behavior. Program staff can account for the whereabouts of youth under their supervision at all times. The program’s staff to youth contract required ratio is one to eight youth during daytime activities and one staff to twelve youth during nighttime sleep. Youth were observed each day of the annual compliance review week in various activities: education, searches, daily youth meeting, sick call, youth graduation, Impact of Crime group, recreation, and counts. All interactions observed were positive between the youth and staff. Three staff were informally interviewed and were able to indicate how many youth they were supervising at the time. The program maintains a written policy and procedures for active supervision of youth. The policy and procedures include interacting positively with the youth, engaging youth in a full schedule of constructive activities, closely observing behavior of youth and changes in behavior, and consistently applying the program’s behavior management system. The daily schedule was observed to be posted throughout the program, including in the dormitory. The youth were engaged in a full schedule of activities as evidenced by daily observations and video review. Staff did not consistently observe the youth while they were sleeping. Ten-minute ...

Failed compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.04 Ten-Minute Checks (Critical)

A program shall ensure staff observe youth at least every ten minutes while the youth are in their sleeping quarters, either during sleep time or at other times, such as during an illness or room restriction. Staff shall conduct the observations in a manner to ensure the safety and security of each youth and shall document real time observations manually or electronically. The program has thirty-two cameras, and thirty-one cameras were operational during the annual compliance review week. The video recordings are stored between thirty and forty-five days. After review of ten-minute checks sheets and video review, it was determined the checks are not being documented in real time. The ten-minute sheets were being filled out prior to and not during ten-minute checks. The staff who completed the ten-minute check sheets did not initial and/or sign them consistently. Each of the reviewed check sheets were documented on the ten- minute mark for each hour. Video review further confirmed the ten-minute checks were being falsified. The program reported the falsification to the Department’s Central Communications Center when the issue was identified during video review. Three different times for three different days to total nine thirty-minute increments were observed on video. Two out of nine video reviews showed staff conducting checks every ten minutes. Seven of the nine checks were not conducted every ten minutes though they were documented as being completed every ten minutes on ...

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.06 Logbook Entries and Shift Report Review

The program maintains a chronological record of events, incidents, and activities in a central logbook maintained at master control, living unit logbooks, or both. The program ensures direct-care staff, including each supervisor, are briefed when coming on-duty. The program maintains a chronological record of events in the facility logbook. One full day each month of the annual compliance review period was reviewed in the facility logbook for entries and shift reports. The program reported the shift reports are documented and maintained within the facility logbooks. All observed logbooks were bound with numbered pages. All reviewed dates included the following required elements: entries were made in ink with no erasures or white-out, no logbook entries were observed to be destroyed or removed, and any errors were struck through with a single line and initialed by the staff correcting the error. Six of the nine dates reviewed did not include the dates, times of events, the names of the staff and youth involved, brief descriptions of the events, or the names and signatures of the staff making entries. Three reviewed days did include all required information. Three of the nine shift reports in the program’s logbook did not include a summary of events, incidents, and activities. Four out of nine reviewed shift reports did not include the incoming or outgoing staff signatures and dates. There was also no documentation for the four reviewed dates of staff being verbally briefed on ...

Failed compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.09 Searches and Full Body Visual Searches

The program shall perform searches to ensure no contraband is introduced into the facility. During the week of the annual compliance review, youth searches were observed to be completed when going into case management, prior to transport, and to and from treatment team meetings. One youth was searched prior to transport. The staff were observed to pat down the youth prior to leaving the building and prior to getting into the transport van. Staff explained the procedures required for the youth to be searched prior to leaving the area they are in, prior to leaving the building, and prior to getting in the van. The staff conducted a pat down search of the youth, placed leg shackles on the youth, the youth entered the van after staff conducted a search, and staff verified the youth put on a seatbelt. The youth was treated with dignity and respect to minimize stress and embarrassment. The search was conducted by the appropriate number of staff and gender. Observations determined searches were thorough and conducted as required by the Right Interactions model (RI) training manual. Video review was conducted of visitor and staff searches. Two visitor searches were observed with no discrepancies noted. A review of staff searches was conducted with a total of nine staff being observed. Seven staff did not receive a pat-down search. Two of the nine staff were not searched with an electronic wand. Eight of the nine staff did not remove their shoes. Two of the nine staff were not ...

Failed compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.12 Weekly Safety and Security Audits

A program shall maintain a safe and secure physical plant, grounds, and perimeter. The program has facility operating procedures (FOPs) for weekly safety and security audits. The facility administrator or the facility plant manager is responsible for conducting the weekly security audits and safety inspections. If a deficiency is found during an internal or external review, audit, or inspection, a corrective action plan is developed and noted on the Safety and Security Audit Tool. The facility administrator (FA) will follow up on a weekly basis to ensure the corrective action plan is followed thoroughly to correct the deficiency. The program provided eight Safety and Security Audit Tool forms for review for the eight months of the annual compliance review period. Additional Safety and Security Audit Tools were not provided to determine if weekly audits were being completed as required. The audits reviewed had a different facility administrator’s name on them. Items listed on the Inspection forms were not from this facility. The program uses an Items Need Correction form. The pages of this form provided to the review team were pages from a different program and a different provider. There were four deficiencies located in the Program and Monitoring and Maintenance (PMM) module of the Department’s Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS). All four deficiencies were assigned by Residential Services and have since been closed. The program did not provide any Preventative ...

Limited compliance, DJJ review : Indicator 5.16 Fire, Safety, and Evacuation Drills

The program shall conduct fire, safety, and evacuation drills to ensure youth and staff are prepared for immediate implementation or mobilization in the event of an emergency or disaster. Drill documentation was provided for review. A total of twelve drills were reviewed. Six of the reviewed drills did not have a.m. or p.m. noted on the drill form; therefore, it was unable to be determined what shift it was conducted. For the drills dated the same date, the same staff signed and dated both drill forms. All drills did document the type of drill, dates, participants, brief scenario, findings, and recommendations. Six months of drills for the second shift were not provided for review. Fire evacuation and egress plans were observed posted throughout the program. The program has thirteen fire extinguishers which were observed. All of the fire extinguishers had been inspected annually. Four of five interviewed staff reported participating in fire drills and medical drills and one stated they had not participated in either. Three of five staff reported participating in mental health drills and escape drills and two stated they had not participated. All five interviewed youth stated they have been instructed on what to do in case of a fire, and each report they have participated in monthly fire drills. The facility administrator was interviewed and reported facility operating procedures (FOPs) staff participate in the following drills: fire, suicide, medical, active shooter, and ...