Deondre Davis, a 17-year-old student at Cheyenne Central High School, is in re-entry right now鈥攖he period of time after leaving a correctional facility. Researchers say this is the critical fork in the road between maintaining positive momentum and recidivism for most ex-offenders.
He came home to Cheyenne, Wyo., in December after a six-month stay at Wyoming Boys School, the state鈥檚 most restrictive juvenile correctional facility. He got into trouble with the law after he tried to live on his own and became involved with drugs and alcohol, and complicated his problems by running away from the police.
Vowing to turn over a new leaf, Mr. Davis is navigating his own critical re-entry period by keeping busy: He attends high school by day, works on weekends, and spends time with a friend he trusts and his girlfriend. He played on the basketball team, which won third place in the state tournament this year, and even tried bowling. He鈥檚 now on track to graduate from high school and plans to attend college in the fall.
For many young ex-offenders, though, the transition back to school and home is not so smooth. Experts say students leaving correctional facilities face a number of barriers. The responsibilities of the various agencies and schools involved in the transition are often not clearly defined by state or local regulation, and students are left to navigate through vague procedures and cope with a lack of educational continuity without clear guidance or support.
鈥淩e-entry is a big word right now,鈥� said Laura S. Abrams, an associate professor in the department of social welfare at the University of California, Los Angeles. 鈥淚f we want to stop the revolving door of incarceration, we need to provide young people with a leg up on how to get not just re-entered, but reintegrated鈥攊nto family, into school, into the social aspects of community鈥攁nd not just re-entering the same set of circumstances that led to incarceration in the first place.鈥�
69传媒 are an important part of re-entry, said Wade Askew, a second-year student at Georgetown Law School, in Washington, and one of the authors of 鈥淜ept Out: Barriers to Meaningful Education in the School-to-Prison Pipeline,鈥� a out last week that addresses juvenile offenders鈥� transitions. 鈥�69传媒 are very uniquely positioned in a child鈥檚 life to be able to be a hub of services,鈥� he said.
Turned Away
In interviews with 118 students, teachers, correctional officers, and other stakeholders in the lives of juvenile offenders attempting to make the transition back to public school, the authors of the Georgetown report鈥�12 students participating in the school鈥檚 Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Mission鈥攆ound students encountering a number of barriers, some institutionalized, some personal. Though the report focuses on Los Angeles, Mr. Askew says the issues students encounter are widespread.
The researchers found schools that 鈥渟imply refused to enroll students,鈥� which the authors attributed partly to 鈥減ressure on schools due to No Child Left Behind,鈥� the federal law that requires schools to show progress in raising student achievement. Many students involved in the justice system struggled with school even before their incarceration and may have special needs.
The students interviewed for the study discussed feeling stigmatized and unwanted. 鈥� 鈥業f they don鈥檛 want me, why should I want them?鈥� is something I heard over and over,鈥� Mr. Askew said.
69传媒 might be told that they are not allowed to enroll and, 鈥渞especting and trusting schools鈥� authority, families erroneously believe that the administrative directives keeping their children out of school are formal, legal policies,鈥� write the researchers.
The report also describes students unable to receive credit for courses taken in juvenile facilities, or being prohibited from attending class while waiting up to six months for transcripts and records to transfer. 69传媒 transferring back at the middle or end of a semester faced particular difficulties.
In Los Angeles, the report says, 鈥渘o single actor is responsible for providing guidance and support to students navigating disjointed, confusing, and complex policies and systems.鈥�
The report recommends several steps for easing this transition, including improved federal regulations that 鈥渋ncentivize enrolling these students鈥� despite their academic challenges and better guidelines and training for those who work with the students.
鈥楩ish Out of Water鈥�
As it stands, policies and plans for providing education services to incarcerated juveniles vary from state to state, from district to district, and even from facility to facility within a state.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of good, solid regulation or guidelines for the juvenile correctional system, so you get anything and everything you can imagine, from charter schools, contracts, programs operated by a juvenile agency or by the school district where the facility is located, or by the state department of education,鈥� said Peter E. Leone, a professor of education at the University of Maryland College Park.
For instance, Ohio鈥檚 four juvenile facilities form Buckeye United School District, run by the state education department and in possession of names that don鈥檛 immediately identify them as part of the justice system. That is to avoid stigmatizing students, said Kimberlee Parsell, a spokeswoman for the Ohio youth services department.
In Arkansas, education programs are run by the division of juvenile services, and in at least one case, are contracted out to a Florida-based group.
In Florida, each facility鈥檚 school is controlled by the district in which the facility is located, which may not be the district the incarcerated juvenile formerly attended.
Maryland鈥檚 juvenile-justice department is in the process of transferring responsibility for schools to the education department, according to spokesman Jay Cleary of the state department of juvenile services.
And in Los Angeles, where the Georgetown law students conducted their study, the county鈥攏ot the Los Angeles Unified School District鈥攔uns the schools.
鈥淣one of these arrangements is bad per se,鈥� said Mr. Leone. 鈥淏ut within the states where they operate,鈥� he said of schools for juvenile offenders, 鈥渢hey鈥檙e always fish out of water, and no one knows what to do with them.鈥�
Those 鈥渇ish out of water鈥� schools often struggle to transfer students鈥� files from and back to regular public schools, for instance, or to ensure that a student is receiving all the special education services he or she needs.
In many states, the facilities do not use the same standards or curriculum as the regular public schools. That means that when students return to regular schools鈥攁s they often do鈥攖hey become fish out of water themselves.
As states have developed data systems to track individual students, the technological improvements haven鈥檛 always translated to juvenile facilities.
鈥淔lorida does have a statewide record system, but for some reason it doesn鈥檛 work well for our kids,鈥� said Joan Wimmer, the director of education for the Florida juvenile justice department. She said the department is planning to add the facilities to the state鈥檚 student-data system to ease the transfer of files and student credits.
Likewise, Arkansas is adding its juvenile facilities to its data system, said state Commissioner of Education Tom W. Kimbrell.
To make re-entry simpler, the New York City district鈥檚 facilities for juvenile offenders recently began scanning portfolios of student work to send with students back to their regular public schools, and allowing the principals of its detention-center-based schools to add credits directly to a student鈥檚 academic transcript, said Timothy Lisante, the superintendent for alternative schools and programs for the 1.1 million-student district.
Mr. Lisante said New York state also passed a 鈥渉ome school re-entry鈥� bill in recent years that explicitly gives students who had been incarcerated for less than a year the right to return to their home schools.
Improving data transparency for youths with criminal records does bring one complex wrinkle: 鈥淵ou want better communication between schools and the justice system, but you also want to be sure to protect youth confidentiality and rights,鈥� according to Jessica Feierman, a supervising attorney at the Philadelphia-based .
Needs Vary
69传媒 leave facilities with a wide range of needs. For some students, returning to the public school is not academically or behaviorally appropriate. But advocates say there鈥檚 a need to make sure that when the public school is the best option, it remains an available one.
鈥淚n some places, all [re-entering] kids go to an alternative setting鈥攂ut that鈥檚 just blowing smoke. It鈥檚 not done on the basis of students鈥� needs,鈥� said the University of Maryland鈥檚 Mr. Leone.
Especially when alternative schools do not offer full high school diplomas and a student is on track to receive one, he said, it is a disservice to that student to not allow him or her to return.
While schools are in some cases rightly wary of a risk to staff members鈥� and students鈥� safety, in other cases, a student may have been detained for a nonviolent offense. Of the 48,400 youths incarcerated in 2010, according to an email to Education Week from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 鈥�37 percent were committed for a person offense (most likely a simple assault), 25 percent for a property offense (usually a burglary), 14 percent for a technical violation of probation or paroles, 11 percent for a public-order offense, 7 percent for a drug offense, and 5 percent for a status offense.鈥� A status offense is a crime that would not be a crime if the offender were an adult. For instance, running away, incorrigibility, and possessing alcohol as a juvenile are status offenses.
Meeting the needs of a diverse population of young offenders has led states to create re-entry or transition teams that may consist of the student, a representative from both the home district and the juvenile facility, a parole officer, and other stakeholders.
But even when regulations exist, and even when a team determines that a student should return to the school, students still encounter challenges.
Arkansas youths are supposed to have transition teams, but 鈥渢he problem with that is that there are no checks or balances about whether that鈥檚 occurring. We鈥檙e looking at rewriting the rules to create more specific requirements about who鈥檚 responsible,鈥� said Mr. Kimbrell, the Arkansas state commissioner.
In Florida, according to the state department of juvenile justice鈥檚 Ms. Wimmer, it鈥檚 done on a district-by-district basis, and in some districts, students return directly to the alternative school, which may or may not be the best fit for a student. 鈥淭hat blanket approach certainly isn鈥檛 based on the child鈥檚 individual needs,鈥� she said.
A bill that would have introduced more uniformity to the state鈥檚 system did not pass during the legislature鈥檚 last session.
In Virginia, which has among the nation鈥檚 most-developed 鈥攄istricts are responsible for holding transition-team meetings and re-enrolling a student within two days鈥攔ules were rewritten in 2006 after an outcry led by a mother whose son was turned away from public school.
While enforcement isn鈥檛 perfect, the rules help, according to Andrew K. Block, the director of the child-advocacy clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law, whose public-interest firm was involved in developing them.
Assigning Advocates
In the absence of regulatory consistency and enforcement, students rely on dedicated adults at each step of the process.
In Wyoming, for instance, Mr. Davis鈥� home district, Laramie County School District #1, has two re-entry specialists, including Alex Andersen, who worked with the facility, the public school, and the justice system to help ease Mr. Davis back into school.
With all that support, the student said he felt welcomed, not rejected, by his home school. 鈥淭hey knew where I was at, but honestly they were proud of me for being back,鈥� he said.
But relying on the involvement of individual parole officers and guidance counselors places young people at risk, said Mr. Block. 鈥淵ou need to come up with a set of rules for which people will be held accountable, because otherwise these are kids that many people won鈥檛 want to serve,鈥� he said.
Mr. Davis said his time at the Wyoming Boys School was rough. 鈥淪ome people call it doing time; 鈥� I call it days and life wasted,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 definitely worked really hard,鈥� he said, 鈥渢o get out early and to walk with my class鈥� at graduation.
