Court’s failure disputed

A $498,000 federal grant for Kootenai County’s juvenile drug court helped only about a dozen children in the last three years, and some officials say poor management led to the program’s failure.

The Kootenai County Commission is investigating the program’s finances, specifically how donations and private money were spent in addition to the federal dollars.

Commission Chairman Gus Johnson said Wednesday the county wants to ensure that the Juvenile Education and Training (JET) Court program doesn’t give the county a “black eye” and jeopardize its ability to get other federal grants.

“This was an accident waiting to happen,” Johnson said. “This program for me was not a success. There may have been a few success stories but as a whole it wasn’t.”

Forty-four children have enrolled in the program since the grant started in November 2002, with 12 graduating. The program that prosecutors offer to children as an alternative to jail time came to an abrupt end Feb. 16 when 1st District Judge Benjamin Simpson quit. The remaining six children in the program were referred to the juvenile court judge.

Prosecutor Bill Douglas, who oversees the JET Court, is adamant that the program was successful and that its critics have been unfair, especially in their personal attacks on program coordinator Marina Kalani.

“I think there was a high level of frustration among not only the judge but other team members about so much being invested on so few kids,” Douglas said. “There was not the energy to continue.”

He added that it was unrealistic to blame the court’s demise on Kalani, the third program coordinator the county has had since the court began.

“To blame it on one person is totally unfair,” said Douglas, who said Kalani will continue as coordinator as he tries to revamp the program’s focus.

Douglas wants the program to help children beat substance abuse before they end up in the county court system. JET Court took high-risk children who had already violated probation.

Kalani’s salary will now come out of Douglas’ budget, not from the grant. Johnson said the prosecutor’s budget does include $30,000 to pay for Kalani and a juvenile probation officer until Sept. 31. After that, Johnson said, he wouldn’t recommend any additional county money going toward the program.

Simpson declined to comment on why he decided to stop presiding over JET Court, but in a Feb. 10 memo he wrote, “I have serious concerns about ongoing personnel problems and legal issues with the Jet Court Staff and some team issues.”

The same day, he wrote an e-mail to the JET Court team calling for a meeting to determine the future of the program.

Simpson’s disassociation followed a nearly monthlong period when the U.S. Department of Justice shut down the county’s access to the grant money because it failed to provide a quarterly report on how the program was running. That report was received in mid-February, and the county again has access to the cash.

County grant writer Colleen Allison said a Justice Department official will meet with her Monday about the future of the grant. The grant could end or it could be amended to help fund the new program Douglas wants to create. The commission will have to approve any changes to the programming.

The manager of the juvenile detention center, J.T. Taylor, was more specific about his objections in a Feb. 14 letter to Simpson released to The Spokesman-Review as part of a public records request made to the county. Taylor said his issues with JET Court revolve around the “inappropriate, unprofessional and unethical conduct” of Kalani and that she has “significant character issues and questionable practices.”

“The program, in its current state, is failing,” Taylor wrote, citing the “soaring” number of children terminating the program, the high number of children going to jail and the number of children quitting the program. “The successes have been few.”

In an interview Wednesday, Kalani said she tried to talk with Simpson about his concerns but that he refused, opting instead to quit the court. Kalani wasn’t specific about the nature of Simpson’s reservations. She added that she was surprised by Taylor’s letter and that she doesn’t feel the need to defend her character or integrity.

“It’s very naïve to think that one individual, who has been the program coordinator for 12 months, would have the power to destroy JET Court,” Kalani said. “That’s silly.”

She agrees that there were problems with the program. That’s why she has pushed for months to move toward early intervention so the county could help more children than those who have already violated probation, Kalani said.

Kalani said she worries how the media’s coverage will affect the community’s perception of the new program.

Douglas responded to Taylor’s letter with his own memo to Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie, saying it was “highly inappropriate in that it unfairly disparaged the character and reputation of a dedicated and professional member of my staff.”