Thread: Joe`s Teenage inmates earn high-school diplomas

Teenage inmates earn high-school diplomas
19 commentsby JJ Hensley - Sept. 15, 2009 07:05 PM






As mid-morning September graduation ceremonies go, this one had star power.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio joined County Supervisor Fulton Brock and Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker in the graduation ceremony Tuesday morning in a packed room at the Lower Buckeye Jail.

But despite the luminaries in the audience, the attention was reserved for six boys.
The teenage inmates were the first to graduate from Maricopa County Jail's high-school program with a diploma, as opposed to a GED certificate, and are believed to be the first juvenile inmates in the country to earn that distinction.

"You are part of history," said Thomas Sawner, who established the education foundation that made the diplomas possible.

It was a ceremony full of contradictions: "Pomp and Circumstance" blared from a little boom box but filled up the small room; the striped uniforms that are the trademark of many Maricopa County inmates were visible underneath the gowns the graduates proudly wore; a string of handcuffs lay on the floor near a buffet table full of food to congratulate the teenagers.

Many of the students said if they'd stayed in school on the outside, they wouldn't have ended up in jail; but by the same token, ending up in jail is the only thing that pushed them to complete their education.

"On the outside, I don't know if I would have finished because of the way I was heading," said Jose Hortelano, 17, who received his high-school diploma.

Hortelano will be sentenced for his part in an armed robbery - pulled off with a BB gun - on Oct. 7, but the diploma gives him options.

"I would like to go to college," he said.

The diplomas are the result of a joint effort between the Sheriff's Office and the Educational Options Foundation, an accredited Web-based program that aligned the curriculum for the juvenile offenders with Arizona's state standards. The Virginia-based company donated equipment and staff.

"This is not a diploma mill," Sawner said.

Administrators said they hope the diplomas offer these young inmates a way out of the system, too. Sawner noted that less than 35 percent of inmates who graduate high school return to jail; and less than 10 percent who receive bachelor's degrees are locked up again.

The school has awarded GED certificates to students for years, but the chance to get a high-school diploma means these students can enroll directly in a four-year university or college without having to first prove themselves in community college.

It also comes with a sense of pride.

The six students who received diplomas will have a chance to start pursuing associate and bachelor's degrees in the weeks, months and years they remain in the system.

The 18 other students who received GED certificates can move on to the diploma program as soon as they're ready but not before all the students commemorated the occasion with their families, in a place where such celebrations are fleeting.

Like many, Randall Begay mentioned his mother after he picked up his GED certificate.

"That's the only thing I've done in a long time to make her proud of me," Begay said. "That's why I did it."



http://www.azcentral.com/community/swva ... s0916.html

Wonderful program!

But dont they tell us how evil Joe is? Hes a great guy

this is such a neat story