Reforming DCF's Connecticut Juvenile Training School

Making CJTS Work Better for Workers and Kids

AFSCME Council 4 Steward Brian Goralski and P3-B Council Steward Paula Dillon Tell Channel 3 News to "Put the Kids and Staff First" at CJTS

Our members working as school teachers, pupil services specialists, and vocational rehabilitation instructors for the State Dept. of Children and Families (DCF) at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School have been watchdogs for change since the facility opened in 2001. With so many competing proposals for how best to reform the troubled facility, it is critical these juvenile justice professionals speak out for safe and secure residential programming for the adjudicated youth we serve.

We have called for more effective management, and spoken out against shortsighted, quick fixes for the Training Center. We believe the solution for safer communities across Connecticut is not building more facilities, but investing in quality public services.

Five years after filing a Title IX sexual harassment complaint to the US Department of Education, their Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has ruled in favor of our members working at CJTS. The ruling upholds our members' call for management to be accountable for ensuring a safe facility for the staff and children served!

 Middletown Press article on OCR ruling in favor of our members

 Channel 3 News Segment on reaction to recent report on CJTS reforms

 Press release announcing OCR's ruling in favor of our members

 Blog entry on impact of OCR ruling on CJTS
 
 U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ruling

 Original Title IX Complaint filed with the OCR in 2003

 Middletown Press article on OCR's investigation of Complaint

 Paula Dillon & Darlene Guthrie's Op-Ed published in the Hartford Courant