Dallas County’s juvenile board has narrowed the national search for a permanent juvenile department director from several dozen to fewer than a dozen.
Board members hope to meet with finalists beginning next week and name a director by the end of the year.
The 9-member board decided Wednesday to interview each candidate in panels of three.
Juvenile board member and County Commissioner Andy Sommerman said that allows meetings to be closed to the public, according to Texas law.
"If we did it in an open meeting, then we would have all the candidates appear in open meeting," he said. "And some of these folks are, quite frankly, interviewing in confidentiality... they have other jobs they don't want their boss to know right now."
The search was open for about a month.
A couple local applicants have made it to the final round.
Darryl Beatty, the former juvenile department director, resigned earlier this year — the same week a surprise state inspection confirmed reports of poor conditions and treatment in the detention center.
Mike Griffiths was appointed its interim leader to oversee the detention center three weeks after Beatty's resignation.
Griffiths led the juvenile department and detention center for 15 years beginning in 1995, and as interim head in 2018.
He had said the department needed an assessment of strengths and weaknesses.
Some of those strengths include enrichment programs for teenagers and young adults, including culinary arts, welding, computer coding and art appreciation, like guitar lessons, he said.
He said the department also needed credibility restored — with residents, lawmakers, judges and prosecutors. But also for people within the agency itself.
"It's not just being responsive to stakeholders. It's being responsive to employees," he said. "Management by walking. That's important. That's key. It’s following through when a request is made. We should be responsive. Whether it's an employee or, again, a stakeholder.”
Before his resignation, Beatty had continuously denied allegations by parents, employees and whistleblowers.
His predecessor, Terry Smith, never returned to work following similar reports of negligence and mistreatment of minors at the detention center, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Sommerman said the juvenile department detention center problems likely attracted candidates rather than discourage them.
"They probably all have seen the news about what's going on," he said. "And I imagine that some of them are saying, 'I can fix that' — challenged by it."
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