Ron Angel, who helped transform the state Department of Human Services’ Youth Services Division, announced his plans to retire Thursday.
Angel, 66, will leave June 1, completing six years as the Youth Services Division director. He was the ninth person to assume that position in only 10 years when he started in 2007, Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said.
“He absolutely has offered a lot of stability to the division,” Webb said. “He offered a sense of calm to the division.”
The department’s deputy director, Steven Jones,will serve as interim director until a permanent replacement is hired, officials said.
We b b said the job was “kind of a second career for Ron,” who had already retired once after 36 years at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs before going to work for the state. Angel also served 25 years in the Arkansas National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade after leaving active duty.
“When I originally took this job, I promised [Department of Human Services Director John Selig] that I would stay three to five years,” Angel said. “I’ve made it six years, so I’ve gone a year past what my plans had called for.”
A national search for Angel’s replacement will begin around the time he steps down. Webb said his empty seat will be a big one to fill.
“We hope to do it fairly quickly, but we want to take the time necessary to find the right person,” Webb said. “The division will be in good hands with Deputy Director Jones until we find someone. But we are looking for people to follow his lead in transforming the system.”
Jones will directly manage the Youth Services Division in addition to overseeing the five departmental divisions he currently supervises, Webb said. Angel’s annual salary is $108,161.66, and Jones’ is $117,615.06, Webb said, adding that the shift would not affect Jones’ income.
Angel said he hopes to “remain involved in some way in juvenile justice and reform efforts” in the state and that he is open to assisting the department in the search for his replacement. He also said that during his retirement, he hopes to see the Youth Services Division focus more on “community-based programs”for treating young offenders.
“It is proven that if you keep kids in the community - close to home - they’re more likely to be successful,” Angel said.
Under Angel’s leadership, the division was released last year from court-ordered supervision by the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal oversight began in 2003 after the Justice Department documented problems at the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center in Alexander, including civil-rights violations that put youths at risk of harm and deprived them of adequate educational and mental-heath services.
Angel pushed to end the oversight by making improvements to facilities and reducing the number of beds at the Alexander center from 143 to 100, Webb said.
“Under his guidance, the state’s juvenile justice system has dramatically enhanced its educational and behavioral health services, reduced the number of children in state facilities and built state-of the-art schools,” a department news release said.
Arkansas’ youth commitment rate dropped 20 percent between 2008 and 2011, according to a report released in November by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the National Council on Youth Leadership.
Angel’s tenure was not without its own trouble spots. He offered to resign in 2009 after the arrest of Antonio Terry, then 16, in the shooting death of Maurice “Beau” Clark, 67, during a home invasion in Little Rock. In November 2012, the Arkansas Claims Commission found the Youth Services Division liable in Clark’s death, citing Terry’s early release from the Alexander center despite staff members’ objections.
“My offer to resign was based solely on the fact that even though I wasn’t entirely aware of what happened, I was in charge,” Angel said. “[Clark’s death] was very unfortunate. Regrettably, things like that sometimes happen; not just in Arkansas but across the United States. Sometimes kids do some really bad things, but in most cases they don’t.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/26/2013