An overhaul of the education system for children incarcerated in the Los Angeles County juvenile justice system was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today, according to a press release from Supervisor Don Knabe.
The changes will affect the county's three juvenile halls (in Boyle Heights, Sylmar and Downey) and 19 youth camps. None are in the South Bay or Harbor Area.
The reforms will include the creation of charter schools within the probation system. Wow. It will be interesting to see how that works.
The release includes the following findings from the 2007 report:
The release continues:
The reforms will also customize educational opportunities based on the individual needs of the student, including a vocational education path, a college-bound path, and a GED completion path, among others. Additionally, the reforms will now tie education in the camps and halls with education in school districts across the County so that students leaving the juvenile justice system will have better continuity and consistency when they return to regular schools.
The reforms were proposed by Knabe last year after a study from the Children's Council of Los Angeles County revealed that incarcerated children were educationally underserved. Knabe billed it as a crime-reduction effort.
One of his lines in the release: "By improving access to educational opportunities in the juvenile justice system today these kids are less likely to commit future crimes tomorrow and end up in and out of our justice system throughout their life."
--In 2004, 74 percent of juvenile justice students did not pass the California High School Exit Examination.
--20 percent of all Probation students require special education programs; double that of the general school population.
--School attendance records for Nidorf Juvenile Hall reveal that on one particular day in April 2007, 14% of students in the hall were not enrolled in the on-site school and only 78% of the enrolled students attended that day.
--Students in some high-risk units received little more than one hour of educational instruction a day.
Leave a comment