Funding cuts local CITY program employees

By Staff
Melissa Cason
All local employees of the Franklin County Community Intensive Treatment for Youth program will be laid off effective May 1.
C.I.T.Y program coordinator Ramona Roberson was informed of the decision earlier this week.
"All of our employees here are being laid off including me," Roberson said. "The site will remain open with only one teacher and one counselor, but they will be brought in from another program."
Roberson said the program is laying off 69 employees statewide because of a $2 million deficit leaving only 29 employees to run the program statewide.
"The decision of who gets laid off is determined by seniority," Roberson said. "Since we have only been open since 1999, there are other employees from other sites who have been employed longer. That's why all of our employees here are being laid off."
Roberson said they were notified in August that they would lose three employees, but she had no idea the cuts would be so deep into the program.
The program operates under the Educational Trust Fund under the post-secondary education budget.
All the C.I.T.Y. program sites around the state are losing the teacher's aid position, counselor's aid position and office manager position.
"This means the program is doing away with the positions forever," Roberson said.
The position of program coordinator is being temporarily removed until funding for the program improves.
Roberson said the cuts mean that fewer at-risk students will be able to benefit from the program, and may result in the court referring cases to other programs.
Franklin County District Judge Paula McDowell, who handles juvenile cases in Franklin County, said she has sent kids to the C.I.T.Y. program instead of boot camp or detention centers in the past.
"We'll have to go back to the way it was and place them in different places," McDowell said.
"Where they go will depend upon the charges."
McDowell said the cuts are devastating to the kids in Franklin County because the program has been an asset to the county.
"They work well with the schools here, and the program has been very successful. It's not just a GED program. They do a lot more at the program."
Roberson said the program currently has 27 students, and they are expecting three more referrals in the next week or so, which will bring the number of students to 30.
However, the program operates under the Department of Youth Services guidelines that mandate that there be 15 students for each teacher.
"If the program continues to operate under these guidelines, half the students in our program will have to be reassigned," Roberson said.
Roberson is urging everyone in the community including local leaders to contact the state board of education, the governor's office and Chancellor Burns with post-secondary education to stop this action.