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View Point
GOVERNMENT appears to respond to problem-solving with the attitude, "Why do it for a dime when you can do it for a dollar?" With all the bellyaching about the high cost of complying with the Felix Consent Decree, the illogical response is to throw even more money at it. A Felix solution
The current approach, unbelievably heavy in bureaucracy, appears to be irretrievably broken, yet when options are presented they are ignored. The feeling one gets when talking with public officials is that they intend on riding a runaway train until it crashes and burns.
On Jan. 10, a letter and plan for privatizing services to a large population of Felix class students (generally labeled as hyperactive, anti-social, behavior disorders and management problems) was mailed to all legislators, the governor and the superintendent of schools.
The plan, which will employ the Adult Friends for Youth AFY) Redirectional Method, proposes to serve all public schools and more than 9,600 students.
The cost would be $23.25 million or $2,417 per student per year, and would be less than a tenth of current total cost estimates which are more than $300 million and rising. Excluded from the plan are students requiring very special high-end services, including the autistic and severely retarded.
Is such a plan feasible? Having taught methods of group psychotherapy and group theory at the University of Hawaii School of Social Work for 27 years, having founded and for 15 years directed a human service agency that specializes in working with children who behave destructively, and having helped to develop a pediatric therapy (the Redirectional Method), I believe that I am qualified to engage in discussions on the matter.
What would it hurt to listen? A recent meeting with Sen. Norman Sakamoto, Felix committee co-chairman, was encouraging but other key players must be open as well.
AFY annually networks with more than 140 elementary schools and over 40 middle/intermediate and high schools through its Student Transition Convention. Since STC's inception in 1990, over 120,000 students throughout the state who were moving up to middle/intermediate school have participated in 86 conventions.
In the past decade, AFY has provided service to 20 youth gangs and 125 therapy groups for students having school management problems. Over 220 young people, who otherwise may not have made it, graduated from high school.
A letter dated Feb. 16 of this year, sent to AFY from a high school gang counselor, stated, "I have witnessed Adult Friends for Youth reach kids who I thought were unreachable...Two of our campus gang leaders have graduated...I credit Debbie Spencer and Adult Friends..."
Staff, providing service to school and gang groups, has never numbered more than four at any time. The STC operates with one full-time staffer.
Clearly, AFY has learned how to produce a lot with a little, and can bring that ability to bear in improving the mental health of Felix students. So, when we propose to work with all the public schools in Hawaii that are open to service, with a total staff of 202 including only four administrators, there is nothing unrealistic about it.
The Private Professional Response System (PPRS) that we are proposing for the majority of Felix class students is efficient, minimally intrusive and easily evaluated. Of tremendous importance to all concerned should be the focus on one simply structured and very open organization comprised of a board of directors of community leaders that can be held accountable for its work.
By eliminating an expensive and defensive bureaucracy, more money is freed up for "high-end" Felix students and other educational needs. Everyone benefits.
Sidney M. Rosen is the CEO of Adult Friends for Youth.