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As a former employee of the juvenile center for 11.5 years with the last five years as a case manager I needed to respond. In 2004 the Department of Corrections did reveal that new rules known as "Umbrella Rules" would be going into effect in July 2005. I was one of four people who attended the video conference training during 2004. I, along with the other case manager, the program supervisor and the administrator of the facility started to work on the updates. However, at the end of 2004 both the case manager positions were cut. They now are back and renamed mental health practitioners at a much lower pay.

When I was permanently laid off the policy and procedure manuals for the center were up to date and in compliance with the DOC. These manuals were several hundred pages long and covered everything. The last I heard the current manual is only a few dozen pages long. What happened to the old manuals? Most of those policies would still be in compliance today.

Also, in the last two years the administrator and program supervisor at the time have been fired and the secretary quit leaving no one with the training from DOC. They had policy ready to go to be in compliance.

It is quite obvious that the current director, when hired, did not and continues to not have any clue on how to run the facility. It is in much worse shape now than ever. Give credit to the director as he requests!

Peter Schuldheisz

Brainerd