The role we play: Filling the county void
Humboldt County Grand Jurors’ Association | Former grand jurors advocating for our citizens
Followers of our monthly column will notice something different this month. Our column name has been changed to reflect that we are former jurors actively engaged in working for better government.
Active civil grand juries produce important investigative reports that are intended to hold various entities within our local government accountable. City and county governments are required by state law to respond to the findings and recommendations of these investigative reports. In the majority of cases, responses to civil grand jury investigative reports are received by the Superior Court and the public after the Civil Grand Jury has been dis-empaneled. This creates a void where there is no civil grand jury to challenge a city/county response to a published investigation report.
This void is filled by the Grand Jurors’ Association. As mentioned earlier, the Grand Jurors’ Association is made up of former grand jurors who are volunteers working for better government. The Grand Jurors’ Association follows up on all responses received from city and county entities by pointing out weak or inadequate responses, and sharing their concerns with the entity, the public, and state or county leadership.
Let’s look at a recent role the Grand Jurors’ Association has played regarding responses to civil grand jury investigation reports. In 2018, the empaneled Civil Grand Jury published a report that dealt with special education within Humboldt County. That report highlighted a number of concerns that the Civil Grand Jury discovered regarding Native American, Hispanic, and foster youth. The Humboldt Office of Education (HCOE) and the Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) did not concur with the Civil Grand Jury recommendations and felt status quo was the best approach. The Grand Jurors’ Association felt that these responses were inadequate in that they failed to indicate any internal investigation on their part.
Then, the ACLU published a report that was not favorable to Humboldt County’s Education System. At the same time, the California Attorney General announced their intention to investigate concerns of underprivileged students within California’s education system.
The Grand Jurors Association quickly provided the California Attorney General with the 2018 Civil Grand Jury report together with the responses from HCOE and SELPA . Our hope is that the California Attorney General will read all the material and arrive at a conclusion that better supports Humboldt County’s underprivileged youth. We thought you might be interested in seeing the correspondence we sent:
Dear Attorney General, Xavier Becerra: January 21, 2021
We, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jurors’ Association, read with interest California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s press release seeking a court order to require the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Child Welfare Services Division (CWS) and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office to take steps to fully comply with a Judgment secured by the California Department of
Justice in 2018.
We also noted that your office is committed to protecting the rights of youth within California’s education system. With this in mind, we are asking you to read a Civil Grand Jury report published by nineteen citizens of Humboldt County in 2018. This report titled Humboldt — We Have a Problem, But More Special Education Is Not the Answer addressed serious special education concerns that the Civil Grand Jury uncovered in their 2018 investigation. The report can be found on our County website at: https://humboldtgov.org/ Archive.aspx?ADID=1285 .
We are not sure of the current status of Special Education services in Humboldt County, but we note that the Humboldt Office of Education and the Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) did not concur with the Civil Grand Jury recommendations and felt that status quo was the best approach. Responses to the Civil Grand Jury report can be found at the same web address above.
Now it appears that the ACLU is involved in the performance of Humboldt County’s education system. They published an article in October 2020 that is quite unfavorable to Humboldt County’s education system. The ACLU report can be found at: https:// bit.ly/38eOXNk.
The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jurors’ Association remains concerned that Native American, Hispanic, and foster children may very well be at an educational disadvantage trying to function within the current Humboldt County educational system. We ask that you read the report, responses, ACLU concern, and draw your own conclusions.
Our hope is that the California Attorney General will ... arrive at a conclusion that better supports Humboldt County’s underprivileged youth.