This letter is in response to the poor rating that the Department of Youth Services facility in Franklin Furnace received by the state.

It is not that hard to comprehend as this state-run facility has been notorious for hiring people who are willing to be so-called hires that are in total agreement with the administrators and do not have the liberty to actually think for themselves.

This is a theme that is true of most state-run agencies and it has been told to me first hand that they would rather hire a person that is only going to support the agency than anyone who might actually have the ability to think for themselves and cause problems.

This has led to the hiring of staff not as qualified and the demise of an agency that may otherwise have had staff that were qualified to do the job as it was supposed to be done.

The hiring here at the Franklin Furnace facility does not, for the most part, include the best but those that they think they can control.

This has led to the current state of poor leadership and hiring practices by this agency.

This in turn has led to the state giving this agency the poorest mark of any DYS facility in the state.

The only way out of this mess is to first get rid of the leaders who have been instrumental in the decline of the agency. We don’t need a “yes person” who is supported by their superiors in Columbus as a result.

They need to implement changes in the way they treat the residents here.

Yes, there are times that force is needed to deal with unruly gang members.

But, for the most part, they need to implement more therapeutic methods and hire more qualified staff that actually know how to deal with this population and not those they have now who have degrees from local facilities that do not teach ways to deal with this population.

Bernard Carter

Ironton