North Penn Reports on High School Youth Aid Panels

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

Early results are in, and North Penn’s new Youth Aid Panel program appears to be delivering results.

During the safe schools committee meeting on Monday night, Pete Nicholson, district administrator for secondary education, reported that a total of 24 students had been adjudicated through the panels as of Feb. 15.

"Students simply need to take responsibility for their action. They’re not arguing whether they’re guilty or not. They’re saying yes, I did this: I was involved in a fight, I had a vaping device, I had a THC vape with me, I had alcohol, vandalism,'” Nicholson said, listing the offenses adjudicated through the panels.

"They’re saying "Yes, I was wrong, and in lieu of police involvement and traditional discipline, I want to be heard out by the panel, I want to take responsibility, and I want to make this right,'” he said.

As of Feb. 15, 19 of the 24 students that had been referred had had a hearing, seven had completed their program, and 17 were still in progress, with 14 of the students being in 11th grade, eight in 10th and two in 12th.

Just over half of those referrals were for THC vaping related offenses, roughly 20 percent were from fighting, and roughly 12 percent for vandalism, with the rest split between alcohol possession and vaping incidents, he said.

In June 2023 the school board heard from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and two local police chiefs about how they’ve worked together to create youth aid panels, a parallel system of justice to process certain juveniles through proceedings staffed by volunteers, including local educators, individuals with first-hand experience in the juvenile system as well as multiple youth advocates, mental health experts and attorneys, instead of interacting with police and the court system.

The DA’s office and chiefs said doing so could cut down on police caseloads, help students by providing more appropriate punishments and keeping criminal offenses off of their records, and send those students to courses or treatment programs to address any additional problems.

"There are restorative processes put in place: there may be some community service, there may be some research that the student may need to do, there may be cessation programs for vaping or for marijuana use, and that student has a predetermined amount of time to complete the programming and report back to the panel that they’ve done what is expected of them,” Nicholson said.

Committee chairman Jonathan Kassa asked if the administrators would track data on whether students complete the panel program for one offense and then offend again. Nicholson said they would, particularly for the 10th and 11th grade students in the current year who would remain at the school for one or two more years.

"One of the reasons for doing this is to reduce the recidivism rate, so hopefully that bears out in the data,” Nicholson said.

Superintendent Todd Bauer then asked if and how the administrators are keeping in contact with the county DA’s office which runs the program, and Nicholson said high school leadership are already sharing data with that office.

"We will do sharing of information at the end of the year, as far as how many students were referred, how many were successful, and the outcomes of those students,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson said that if a student doesn’t complete the program, they would be referred back for traditional school discipline programs and/or police involvement if needed.

Kassa said he saw the panels as part of an approach to reduce workloads for police and the court system, expedite accountability, and encourage students to right their own wrongs, and said he was looking forward to seeing a full school year’s worth of data.

"It would be nice to know if we’re making incremental change, or if we’re starting to make some leaps that we could begin to learn from, year over year,” he said.

Board member Cathy McMurtrie asked if families, parents or guardians, were included in the process, and Nicholson said they are.

"Part of this whole process is the student taking ownership of their behavior, taking ownership of the infraction. And the parents also have to sign off on their involvement with YAP. Parents are involved in this, they know what the resolution is,” Nicholson said.

North Penn’s school board next meets at 7 p.m. on March 12 and the safe schools committee next meets at 5:45 p.m. on March 25; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.