December 2, 2005

PACT seeks to open doors for at-risk youth

Staggering price to pay if nothing changes

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Options for at-risk youth in Santa Clara County are shrinking, and citizens of this county will pay the price later if the trend is not reversed.

Erika Amador’s testimonial about a charter school, Pathfinder High School, and George Contreras’ testimonial about the Foundry community day school moved the audience deeply.

Representatives from People Acting in Community Together sent this message loud and clear on Nov. 15 to some 500 South Bay residents, including state government officials and superintendents of the two largest school districts in the county.

Addressing the packed sanctuary of Westminster Presbyterian Church, the speakers shared alarming statistics and compelling testimonials in their plea to better address the most at-risk youth in our society. Their vision is simple: create more quality alternative schools for youth and reduce the dropout rate.

“The County Office of Education has not fulfilled this vision; we hope that our districts will,” said Mike Medina, a PACT committee member. “We are asking our school districts to take leadership by enrolling more kids in existing community day schools and by creating more community day schools.”

He also asked state officials to change state law to allow charter schools who are serving these kids to access the higher per student funding.

Alarming statistics
According to Medina, more than 1,500 students drop out per year, and experts estimate that over 6,000 youth are out of school in Santa Clara County. In 2005, Mayor Ron Gonzales’ office stated that there’s been at least an 88 percent increase in gang membership among juveniles in the detention system.

What does the future hold for dropouts? Medina said that high school dropouts make up two-thirds of the prison population and 283 more juveniles were admitted to juvenile hall this year than last year.

The cost to the community is staggering: juvenile incarceration costs $70,000 per year per juvenile; the youth potential and talent wasted is immeasurable.

“While dropouts and gang activity are on the rise, alternative education options are slipping away,” continued Medina.

“Over the last six years, the number of students enrolled in alternative education has dwindled by 43 percent in this county, however statewide it has grown 2 percent. Compared to similar counties statewide, Santa Clara County is dead last in the number of students enrolled in alternative education.”

Community day schools
Alternative education includes many types of programs, but PACT focused on the benefits of community day schools, which are the only alternative programs that offer a longer school day combined with supportive services.

Community day schools serve students who have been expelled, are on probation or are referred for other at-risk behaviors. Because they do offer a more comprehensive program, they receive more funding than a traditional school.

While the state of California allots about $6,500 per year for a regular student in a traditional school, it sets aside between $11,000 and $12,000 per year for students in community day schools.

“This may seem high,” said Medina, “but this cost is the last resort before incarceration at $70,000 per year.”

School districts and the County Office of Education are responsible for operating community day schools. In Santa Clara County, there are eight community day schools, only two of which are operated by the COE, one by SJUSD and East Side Union High School District has none.

“This means that only about 350 youth are served in community day schools, but we could be serving about 1,250 students,” said Medina.” Not only are we losing lives by not serving these youth, we are also passing up $10 million a year of available funding.”

He noted that charter high schools focused on at-risk youth have been the last open door for many of these kids. Although they serve the same population, because of state law, they cannot access the higher funding. These schools get by with less than half the resources that community day schools are entitled to, which is about $6,000 instead of $11,000.

“Charters serving struggling youth are doing the work, why can’t they be part of the solution? … if we don’t provide hope and support to our struggling youth NOW, we all will pay the cost later,” he added, spelling out the choice: $11,000 - $12,000 per year now in a community day school or $70,000 per year later for incarceration.

Moving testimonials
Among the most memorable pleas for supporting alternative education came from the testimonials of those who have benefited from them.

The first to share her story was Erika Amador, is a 16-year-old student of Pathfinder High School, a new charter school in East San Jose targeting at-risk youth.

“I hung out with gangs because I wanted to be listened to and supported, but I found out that they did not care about me. I was struggling in school and doing drugs … I started to realize how my life was affecting my family,” she began.

“I wanted to change, but when I started to change, I still did not find any support at my school. They actually wanted me to go to a school full of my rival gang. When I wanted to make a difference in my life, I had a gun pulled on me four times. I was 14 years old, I was scared and I froze,” continued Amador.

“Now I think they didn’t pull the trigger because I am here to do something. I want to help struggling students and I want my little sister to have it better than I did. I don’t want her to struggle and I want her to have the support and respect I did not have. So now I’m at Pathfinder. It’s been motivating me to go to school, it’s supportive and teachers now know how to help me and they’re not judgmental,” she added. She plans to finish high school and attend college.

George Contreras, an Evergreen resident and freshman in college, spoke next. “I’m proud to be here today, because only two years ago, I was in juvenile hall. I had listened to what everybody had said about me, that I was hopeless and that I was never going to be anything in life. The only thing I looked forward to was my next drink of alcohol or my next high off of drugs.”

He explained that during the last two-and-a-half years of high school, he attended seven schools in four different districts. “It seemed like every school I went to did not work for me, and when I was kicked out of school, there were no options for me and my parents. It was up to us to find the schools. I felt confused and lost and that no one wanted me,” said Contreras.

“It was not juvenile hall or probation that changed my life, it was a community day school called the Foundry,” he added. “The small class sizes and great teachers with experience with kids like me made me feel I wasn’t alone in this world. They taught me I was somebody … and last June, I did what people said was impossible, I graduated from high school.”

Pledging to change
The meeting concluded with a question and answer period where a panel of PACT representatives asked school district representations and government officials their stance on alternative education options and what they could pledge to do to help.

State Senator Elaine Alquist and Assemblyman Joe Coto, both on the panel, vowed to write legislation that would make charter schools targeting at-risk youth eligible for extra funding. Assemblywoman Sally Lieber sent a letter committing her “full support to developing and passing the strongest legislation possible” to “bring every resource to bear in helping them succeed in school and in life.”

On the school district side, Superintendent Don Iglesias of San Jose Unified pledged to increase spaces in community day schools and make his existing community day school a model for other districts. Bob Nunez, interim superintendent of East Side Union High School District, agreed to look into community day schools for his district, which currently has none.