It’s Official–TYC’s Harris is Gone
February 23rd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
The Texas Youth Commission posted a press release about twenty minutes ago announcing that embattled executive director Dwight Harris was retiring. Harris said he’d planned to retire this summer anyway, but decided to move the date up in the wake of the Pyote scandal:
“I love too much this agency, the fine men and women who serve here, and the troubled children who come to us as a last hope to let myself be a distraction to the greater mission,” said Harris. “I wanted to stay through this session to promote our requests, but it’s clear to me now that my presence might actually get in the way of those things we gravely need.”
The release said that TYC’s General Counsel Neil Nichols will serve as the agency’s temporary acting executive director.
In his statement, Harris said that “news reports inaccurately insinuated” that he had knowledge of the sex abuse going on at Pyote.
February 23rd, 2007 at 6:10 pm
This is a very sad time for the agency. Mr. Harris is a great man and sacrificed himself for the people of this agency.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:58 am
With the resignation of Dwight Harris, perhaps a broader reform will be initiated in the Texas Youth Commission. Emphasis needs to be on the recruitment, training and retention of quality staffers to ensure that appropriate services are delivered to the youth entrusted to it’s (TYC) care. Programs such as the agency’s Re-socialization Program, need to be looked at in a realistic light to determine whether or not they really provide the impetus for reform that the Youth Commission claims.