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Fredericksburg approves juvenile case manager agreement with FISD for remainder of school year
Summary
Council approved a short-term cooperative agreement with Fredericksburg ISD to continue a juvenile case manager in municipal court through the end of the school year; the program is intended to prevent truancy and early juvenile offenses.
The Fredericksburg City Council approved a local agreement with Fredericksburg Independent School District to fund and operate a juvenile case manager program for the remainder of the current school year.
The agreement, presented by the municipal court and approved by the school board, covers the period through summer school in June; staff said a separate, full-year agreement will be brought forward in July to cover the 2025–26 school year. The item was taken out of the agenda order to accommodate Judge Becker, who described the program as a way to plug a gap in youth services identified through municipal court caseloads.
Judge Becker, Municipal Court Judge, said, “what I have seen as the municipal court judge is that we really have a gap in services for our kids. Municipal court is a great way to identify different issues and then to be able to provide services and do that really early on. In order to do that, we have to have the juvenile case manager.” The judge and staff said the juvenile case manager monitors juvenile cases, performs clerk-type duties for the juvenile docket and is not a disciplinarian; participation requires student consent and the program operates on campus under confidentiality protections.
City staff confirmed the juvenile case manager, Ron Sutton, was hired in December and that the position had been approved in this year’s budget. Council moved and seconded approval of the agreement; the motion carried on a voice vote.
The agreement applies only to on-campus services for students who consent to participate; staff emphasized the school retains its statutory duties and that the juvenile case manager role supplements, not replaces, school discipline or authority. Council and staff said they will return with a separate, longer-term agreement to cover the full 2025–26 school year.
