RACINE â There may be changes coming to the way the City of Racine handles juvenile justice.
Someday in the future, youths could go to teen court for minor infractions and have cheaper fines more appropriate for juvenile offenders than their adult counterparts, although it wouldn t have any effect for teens charged with severe offenses.
Through this proposed change and others being considered, the city is aiming to build a system that promotes accountability while dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, Teen Court works to create a change in youth behavior, provides an opportunity for youth to restore their image in the community while repairing their relationship between themselves and the victim, facilitates the strengthening of family resiliency, and offers ways youth can gain academic and 21st century life skills for future success.
Hundreds of emails to council members have poured in over recent weeks with concerns about the plan.
Some members of the community called for the City Council to modify its Safer Racine ordinance, ordering the continuation of remote learning until all teachers who want to get a COVID-19 vaccine have gotten it. The council did not act on those requests, however, although there is a precedent for this, since the city ordered school buildings within borders to be closed following Thanksgiving through Jan. 15.
Other letter writers wanted the City Council to have RUSD craft a more comprehensive plan for addressing health and safety concerns before sending students back to school. However, the City of Racine does not have any immediate control over the Racine Unified School District â despite overlapping jurisdictions, they are separate governmental entities.
Mason
The county did not publicly disclose its plans for use of the Brannum Lumber site for months after the location had been determined. However, the county gave Racine Mayor Cory Mason and other members of city administration notice as early as July 21, although Mason evidently did not pass the information along to the City Council.
An examination of the timeline indicates city and county did not communicate fully with the public, or with each other.
Correspondingly, The Journal Times did not ask pertinent questions when the purchase of the Taylor Avenue property appeared on county meeting agendas in July â although county notices made no mention of what the Taylor Avenue property would be used for.