This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Economy knocks education out of campaign spotlight
The Boston Globe – October 28, 2008
Forget Joe the Plumber. Joe the teacher wants to know what happened to education as an issue during the presidential campaign. "The country, if education is something they're concerned about, they've got to seek it out," said Joe Post, a 17-year-veteran language arts teacher at a middle school in the Cleveland suburb of North Ridgeville, Ohio. "It's not going to be on the front page of the newspaper in this election."

District hopes specialized staff can reverse trend
Houston Chronicle – November 3, 2008
As a high school junior, Francisco Cruz Mendez lived alone, worked as a busboy at night to pay the rent and then sleepily went to class. He came close to dropping out of school. But this fall, with help from his counselors at Lee High School, the aspiring physical therapist plans to be the first in his family to attend college.

CIS programs proven to help stem tide of dropouts
Tecumseh Herald – October 30, 2008
Communities in Schools of the Tecumseh Area (CISTA) Executive Director Susan Reeder told the Tecumseh School Board members on Monday night that national studies of CIS programs show scientifically-based evidence of effectiveness in preventing dropouts. The report also noted that CIS is the only organization proven to increase graduation rates. “We can find the same outcomes here,” said Reeder. “We do those same things. We have a lot of preventive programs that help kids in their process of staying in school.” CISTA, which is one of approximately 200 CIS programs across the country, will be making some adjustments in the upcoming months to follow a Total Quality System enacted by the national program to help document its success, and the process recently got underway with a Strategic Plan.

Juvenile Justice

Group to review juvenile justice practices in Tri-Cities
Tri-City Herals – November 3, 2008
Tri-City community leaders are analyzing juvenile justice data, practices and policies as part of a national reform effort aimed at making the system more effective and responsive. The group has targeted three areas for a closer look: How truancy is dealt with, care for youth with mental health issues and whether minorities are disproportionately represented in the system. The Models for Change initiative is a project of the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Undo zero-tolerance policy in schools
The News-Press – November 3, 2008
The arrest and detention of a 9-year-old girl with mental illness at Royal Palm Exceptional School earlier this month was more than just a personal tragedy for the family. It was a sad reminder that children with disabilities are not getting the special care they need in our schools and that too many are being shoved needlessly into the juvenile justice system.

Foster Care

After 12 years in state care, Erica Holmes gets a place to call her own in Killeen
Killeen Daily Herald – November 2, 2008
Erica Holmes was too young to remember what happened the day she was removed from her mother's home. Initially her siblings were kept together in foster care, but after six years, all four were separated. Holmes can't even remember how many foster homes she's lived at, since she was transferred every couple of months. Holmes now lives in transitional apartments in Killeen, provided by Texas Youth Services' Project F.U.T.U.R.E., which stands for "focuses upon training, utilization of resources, and employment."

Help for foster kids
Oklahoman – October 29, 2008
This fall, Congress and the president acted to improve the lives and futures of children and youth in Oklahoma’s — and the nation’s — foster care system. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act will help more children leave foster care for permanent families.