HENDERSON CO., KY (WFIE) -
Kentucky officials want to keep kids out of the court system, so in Henderson on Tuesday, the Department of Justice presented schools with money to help do that.
Officials tell 14 News in 2009/2010, Henderson County had the highest number of juveniles sent to the court system in Western Kentucky, 197 juveniles that year. Now, those numbers are on the way down and HCS says more preventive action in the schools could help even more.
"What can we do to try and help support our kids and families before they ever even get referred to the courts?" asked Marganna Stanley, the Assistant Superintendent at HCS.
That was the question school officials like Stanley had three years ago when hearing those county statistics. Data from 2010/2011 shows, the number of juveniles county-wide referred to juvenile court jumping down from 197 to just 97. HCS says behavior intervention programs within the classroom are helping out, but more funds mean more services for students.
"They might talk to a counselor one-on-one. They might be in group counseling," Stanley said.
At Tuesday's fiscal court meeting, the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice presented HCS with $15,000 to get a preventive program started in the schools.
"It empowers the school system to be able to address those issues within the school system," said Sharre Smith-Jones, the Deputy Commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.
Department officials say once a juvenile enters the court system their chances of graduating high school go down. That's why HCS tells 14 News they're excited about using those funds for student services like counseling and therapy.
"Teaching character skills so we never get them to a court referral," Stanley said.
HCS says the age range that will benefit from those funds most is students in grades eight through 12. School officials say the new program will be housed in school buildings so the funds can go directly toward services for students.
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