Kids in juvenile detention center earn credits toward high school diploma
BATON ROUGE - Five children at the East Baton Rouge juvenile detention center earned credits toward a high school diploma through a new outreach program.
The EBR Juvenile H.O.P.E. Redesign Initiative was launched in the past year to give youths access to education while still in the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Detention Center. Teens can now earn credits toward a high school diploma in the center.
In the program, students are given personal reviews and work with advisors to come up with an academic plan for their time in the center. Students are either given short-term support, long-term core academic credit options or prepared for taking a high school equivalency test.
Over half of the long-term students at the center achieved academic credits by last January, according to Tamara Johnson, the executive director for school leadership in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. She added that this achievement increased motivation for many other students in the center.
"We are encouraged by this progress and look forward to increasing the number of students receiving credits," Johnson said.
The Juvenile Detention Center partnered with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System for this program.