Board taps ex-Dallas County Juvenile Department director as interim amid investigations
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The deputy director overseeing Dallas County’s juvenile detention center resigned Friday, marking the second leadership departure amid allegations of poor conditions and pending state investigations.
DeAndra Jones oversaw the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center at the direction of Darryl Beatty, the former juvenile department director who resigned last month following an unannounced state inspection into allegations of “supervisory neglect” by the Office of the Inspector General at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
Jones’ rationale for resigning is not clear. He declined to comment on his departure when reached by phone Monday afternoon.
The nine-member board overseeing Dallas County’s juvenile justice system met Monday to, in part, receive their first report about changes in the detention center from Interim Director Michael Griffiths, who they appointed as interim director last week.
The meeting comes a month after Beatty’s resignation. His tenure has been marred by allegations — which he denied in a news conference more than two weeks before he stepped down effective immediately — of poor, unsanitary and inhumane conditions at the detention center.
At the news conference, Jones, who had overseen the detention facility since October, said the facility’s detainees adhered to “highly structured” schedules with educational and recreational opportunities. Beatty and Jones said there was a 20% vacancy rate among juvenile supervision officers at the facilities, leading to changes in supervision practices.
“What we do here is an extremely important job, and my dedication to ensuring we are in compliance with the law is unwavering,” Jones said at the July 3 news conference.
Griffiths told the board that he named a replacement for Jones to serve in an interim capacity: Barbara Roberts, who served as a deputy director over institutions for the department from 2007 to 2010.
Roberts served under Griffiths in his final few years as juvenile department director. Griffiths has overseen juvenile services in counties across Texas and at the state level since 1983, the longest stint being from 1995 to 2010 as Dallas County’s director over the juvenile department.
Last week, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Griffiths said he quickly took steps to begin addressing issues in the department, which he characterized as a “systemic issue” solely within the detention center.
The facility, as a result, has fallen short of state standards for cleanliness and the seclusion of juveniles, he added.
Griffiths announced the appointment of Roberts, whose first day is Aug. 26, among a few other changes made in his first seven days on the job. As he gave his report, board members asked him about a path forward for a third-party review of the center and the county’s juvenile justice system — an idea supported by Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman and Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins, who both sit on the board.
Sommerman and Lewis Jenkins said they support a “top-to-bottom” review of the system by a third party. The duo contend such a review should be broad and all-encompassing, ensuring, they told The News, that issues with the department do not resurface in later years.
Other board members, including board chair Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon, pointed to the ongoing investigations by the Office of the Inspector General as a means to address the issues. Shannon said the board should lean on Griffiths’ expertise and allow him to assess the department before deciding whether to commission such a review.
Griffiths said he would draft a “scope of work” — a draft proposal of what a third-party agency would evaluate — for such a review. He plans to present that draft during the board’s next regular meeting in October.
A handful of people spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, including Rev. Michael W. Waters. Three days before the July 3 news conference hosted by Beatty and Jones, Waters called on the county to address issues in the detention center.
Waters, the founder of Abundant Life AME Church in Dallas, said Monday he “appreciated” Griffiths’ consideration of a third-party review. He questioned why other board members were seemingly opposed to the idea.
“My hope is that by October’s time, they come to the recognition that this gentleman, whom they laud, is seeking to move us in the right direction and that they would support his intuition,” Waters told The News.
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The Dallas Cowboys officially announced the signing of defensive end Carl Lawson on Monday.
Lawson’s arrival is the latest move for a defensive line that has gone through a series of changes.
Defensive end Sam Williams’ season-ending knee injury on July 28 prompted the Cowboys to find a replacement. Initially, second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland was cast as the projected starter opposite DeMarcus Lawrence.
The Cowboys also worked out three players (Shaka Toney, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Lawson) following Williams’ injury. The team signed Toney and Muhammad in early August and each played in the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams.
But Toney suffered an injury and was waived/injured by the team last week.
In six NFL seasons, Lawson has 27 sacks. Two years ago, he signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the New York Jets. In 23 games, Lawson had seven sacks before he was let go.
He did not play in Saturday’s preseason win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and should begin to practice with the team this week.
To clear the way for Lawson on the roster, the organization placed offensive tackle Earl Bostick on the reserve/injured list.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Seven years have passed since the Texas Legislature saved the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System from the fund’s bumbling former management and reckless real estate investments.
The bailout bought time to devise a long-term solution to a more than $3 billion funding shortfall. Yet, as a deadline approaches, the sides remain at odds over whether the city should have oversight and how much money it should contribute annually over the next 30 years.
The pension board contends it has sole authority to adopt a pension plan and wants larger contributions than the city says it can make without seriously cutting other city services. And the city contends the impact of the past pension crisis and state law require that it be involved in formulating the plan. And with good reason. Hundreds of Dallas police officers fled into retirement and jobs in other cities.
We side with the city. The pension board’s decision to take the dispute to court is shortsighted. Dallas is in this mess because of the pension system’s poor management, and city taxpayers are on the hook.
Specifically, the pension fund wants the city to contribute dollars at a faster pace so retirees can get cost-of-living adjustments sooner. Dallas favors a less aggressive funding schedule, beginning with a more than $202 million contribution in the next city budget. This would put the city on a path to properly fund the pension but would cost the city roughly $419 million less over the funding period.
The police and fire department’s rank-and-file members didn’t create the problem but continue to pay the price for poor oversight and past mistakes. Previous pension management made self-dealing investments, and past city councils failed to put aside dollars so that they could spend elsewhere.
City officials aren’t oblivious to the financial pressure on retirees or the demoralizing message another pension debacle would send to public safety workers. The city is considering an extra end-of-year paycheck for pension beneficiaries, a one-time 1% payment to retirees’ pension base in 2025 to help bridge the cost-of-living gap and perhaps another 1% stipend a year based on the pension fund’s investment performance. However, city officials also are right to say the pension fund needs to carry its share and produce better returns on its investment portfolio, which lags those of peer cities, according to a recent consultant’s survey.
Neither side can afford this stare-down to precipitate another rush of officers to other jobs, and all parties should be reminded that the fund isn’t the city’s or pension board’s private kitty, which is how it had been treated in the past.
The fund is the retirement promise made to public safety employees for their service to Dallas. In keeping that promise, both sides must compromise to break this dangerous impasse, commit to greater transparency, communications and accountability, and most of all, stop playing games with other people’s money.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
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