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Carson City agencies pilot Saturday diversion program for students involved in fights
Summary
Juvenile Services, the district attorney and school resource officers described a new intervention that pairs citations in lieu of arrest with a mandatory Saturday program combining community service and anger-management instruction; the effort is a pilot at the high school and will be evaluated for expansion to middle schools.
Carson City juvenile services staff, the district attorney's office and the Sheriff's Office presented a new intervention Friday that will give students cited for on-campus battery a mandatory, immediate alternative to arrest: a Saturday program of community service and conflict-resolution instruction.
School and juvenile officials said the aim is to provide an immediate consequence and short-term services so students receive intervention while the incident is still fresh rather than waiting weeks for court processing.
Deputy Chief Linda Lawler of Juvenile Services, Sergeant Taylor Miras of the Sheriff's Office SRO program, Deputy District Attorney Kelly Brandon and Christy Perkins, director of MTSS and Student Wellness for CARSON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, described the plan during a board meeting. The program is being piloted at the high school this week with the intention of expanding to middle schools after staff capacity and procedure tweaks.
Under the proposal, a school resource officer who responds to a fight will issue a citation for battery in lieu of arrest when appropriate; the student and parent will be told that the immediate Saturday program is mandatory. Juvenile Services will host the Saturday session, which officials described as an 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. day that mixes supervised community service with psychoeducational material on anger management and conflict resolution. If a cited student fails to attend, officials said the district attorney will seek a writ of attachment and the student may be taken into custody and required to complete the program through court-ordered supervision.
"Community service has been shown through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to have one of the best outcomes in terms of juvenile recidivism rates," Deputy District Attorney Kelly Brandon said at the meeting, explaining the DA's office support for a quick, restorative response.
District staff said the program is intended to be immediate and meaningful: citation instead of an arrest, an intervention the next Saturday and follow-up supports through school social workers, counselors and the district's intervention teams. Perkins said administrators are discussing whether successful completion could factor into in-school versus out-of-school suspension decisions on a case-by-case basis. Juvenile Services noted the program will be staffed by probation officers and juvenile services personnel.
Officials also emphasized limits and escalations: cases involving significant injury, credible threats that indicate broader safety risks, or felony-level conduct would be handled through different procedures and could proceed to court rather than the Saturday diversion. The DA and juvenile staff said the program is designed for battery incidents without serious injury and for first-time or lower-risk incidents where an immediate restorative response is appropriate.
Board members who spoke praised the collaboration and the program's immediacy. Several trustees and district leaders asked staff to track outcomes and report back so the pilot can be refined and, if successful, expanded.
Officials said they will collect attendance and outcome data and that the program uses evidence-based curricula and community-service partners. They did not present a formal policy vote; the board received the presentation as information and asked staff to return with implementation results and data.
The program as described is a multi-agency pilot combining school discipline, juvenile services and the district attorney's office; no formal Board action was taken at the meeting.
