GO FOR IT, BART... the ball is in your court. Make the call.  The game goes on.



Giddings Admin has practically given you the keys to the gate -- but why would you want to leave?  Everything you could possibly want is on campus.

You've been told it's OK to fill out grievances when you don't like being held responsible for your actions.  Your ConNextions score not what you'd like it to be?  Bitch and whine and it'll get changed... illegally, if necessary... but heaven forbid anyone would see you as being anything but the little angel you are.



Don't like the staff, huh?  Well, they ARE there to be verbally and physically abused, right?  So go ahead... hit them.  Curse them.  Lie to them.  Steal from them.  Nothing will happen to you... no one REALLY wants to hold you accountable, right?

The only problem you have is how to STAY locked up through the summer to make sure you get a chance to enjoy ALL those snow cones, pizza and BBQ parties, kite flying, and dance-off's you're entitled to!  I mean, come on -- you NEVER got all that fun (and attention) out in The Free, now, did you?  Of course not.  And the prospect of actually having to GROW UP and (shudder!) get a job and work for an honest living is waaaaay too depressing to even consider... so best do what you have to in order to stretch this vacation in Giddings out as long as you can.  Hell, it might even be dangerous to your health outside the wire, what with all those crazies running around with knives and guns 'n stuff!



Best to blame someone else on your having been locked up -- sure, you weren't given three interventions not to pistol whip that old lady before you robbed her.  It wasn't your fault then, was it?  Of course not.  You're just ... a child.  How could you have known any better?



Well -- let's cut the crap and get to the real issue of what the problem is today in regards to American society in general and Giddings State School in particular, namely, responsibility is AWFUL hard to find nowdays -- especially in institutions like TJJD.  But someone has to take the fall when things go wrong.  And things are going very, very wrongly at GSS.  So who's responsible?

The legislators?  Timid voters?  Admin?  Austin?  The kids, the JCO's, the programs or lack thereof?  WHO?
WHAT??

I would assign a good portion blame for the collapse of GSS, when it comes, to the JCO system that allows those in "supervisory" positions to be anything BUT supervisors.  By not keeping tabs on those under them, the whole system has become rotten from within... and without support and supervison from above, the JCO 4's and below have floundered, and the kids have taken over.  Admin has to be faulted for not disciplining those JCO 5's and 6's who are not doing the job they need to in order to keep things running they way they SHOULD.   In turn, Admin hasn't been held to task to do THEIR job by the bigwigs in Austin.  And voters have turned a blind eye to legislators who don't require accountability from those running TJJD... and so on.  So yes, there's lots of blame to go around.  It's not surprising, when you think about it, that The System has failed the youth and everyone else up and down the line.  No one wants to do their job!  It's the poor JCO's who are working the floor that get caught in the middle of this mess and are the ones who are working the 12 hour shifts and getting the shit kicked out of them... and that's just plain sad.  And unnecessary.  And needs to stop, and soon.



The programs need to change.  The whole culture of GSS needs to be impartially examined and made fairer to those who actually are trying to do their jobs.

After 6.5 years of working at Giddings, I realized there was no way I could effectively do the job the State expected me to do, so I quit.  Being a nice guy, of sorts, I used to tell the kids if they got out and stayed out of trouble for just THREE MONTHS that I would give them a FREE tattoo kit to use to maybe make some money and explore their creative instincts and stay out of trouble for good... but none of them ever took me up on it.  Oh well.  I tried.  They somehow need to be taught that hard work is the answer -- NOT being treated like spoiled childern by adults who are scared to do the hard work of disciplining them when they most need it.



Something has to change to help these kids learn how to live in society and stay out of trouble... something other than what's being done NOW.  It's time to raise the bar, to tighten the screws, and to ask the tough questions, like, WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, and BY WHO?