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Rutherford County juvenile board narrows detainee internet use, requires staff incident reports
Summary
The Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center board approved revised Standard Operating Procedures restricting internet access for youth to assigned educational tasks and requiring staff to save evidence and document incidents; the change takes effect Feb. 25.
The Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center board approved revised language to its standard operating procedures to limit detained youths’ internet access and require staff to document violations.
The change, approved by the board after a short presentation, states that “youth may only access the Internet for their individually assigned educational tasks,” and requires staff to save evidence and file an incident report if a student uses internet services contrary to school assignments. The amendment will take effect Feb. 25.
Miss Duke, a detention center staff member who presented the revision, told the board the highlighted wording on members’ packets clarifies ambiguous language from the prior SOP. Duke read the proposed rule change aloud and said it “now reads, youth may only access the Internet for their individually assigned educational tasks. You must save the evidence and document the situation via an incident report if students are using Internet services contrary to their school assignments.”
Board discussion focused on phrasing and who would be responsible for the evidence and reporting requirement. The acting chair asked who “you” referenced in the second sentence; Duke said it referred to the staff member actively supervising the youth and could include educational staff or detention officers. Claire Maxwell, a board member, proposed specifying the term “staff.” At Maxwell’s request the motion was amended on the floor to use the word “staff” in place of “you.”
Claire Maxwell moved to approve the amended language; Mr. Hall seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously in favor. The acting chair announced the amendment was approved and recorded the Feb. 25 effective date.
The meeting packet also included the board’s routine data and education reports: as of the morning of the meeting the facility held 15 youths (7 from Rutherford County, 3 from Williamson County, 2 from Coffee County, 1 from Gibson County, 1 from Sumner County, and 1 from Wilson County). Eric Davis provided special education services on behalf of the Board of Education and staff reported that a few youths received English-as-a-second-language support during the month reviewed.
No public comments were offered at the meeting.
The board did not specify additional enforcement procedures beyond the incident-report requirement; staff indicated the supervising staff member (educational or security) would save any evidence and complete documentation.
