This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Utah school says adding ninth grade will boost grad rates
The Salt lake Tribune, Granger, UT – July 6, 2012
Jerry Haslam, principal at Granger High School, has a problem. But he also has a solution.   Construction is under way on a new Granger High that can hold 2,400 students, a sizeable jump from the current enrollment of 1,650. By the 2013-14 school year, administrators hope to help fill the building by including ninth-graders.

DISD graduation rate up for fourth straight year
WFAA.com, Dallas, TX – July 2, 2012
For the fourth straight year, Dallas ISD has increased its graduation rates.  The district reports that last year, 77.3 percent of high school seniors graduated, more than 7,000 students.

UMSL program bridges high school to college
The Beacon, Missouri – July 6, 2012
Would you be willing to give up your leisurely summertime sleep-ins to enter a program that has sent 100 percent of its participants to college?  Hundreds of teens, from middle school through high school, are doing just that during this heat, showing up at 7:45 a.m. to attend the Bridge Program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Juvenile Justice

Teen Court youth attend summit at Sonoma State
Redwood Times, California – July 3, 2012
The Boys & Girls Club of the Redwoods sent five Teen Court youth representatives to the seventh annual Youth Court Summit at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, on the weekend of June 22-24.  This conference brought together youth from jurisdictions throughout California and representatives of the court system, educators, and community organizations providing a range of law-related educational and leadership opportunities.

Department of Juvenile Justice shifts focus, restructures
Fresh Loaf, Georgia – July 5, 2012
This week, following a number of high-profile and sometimes violent incidents at various youth detention centers in months past, Georgia's Department of Juvenile Justice took additional steps to help ensure safe and secure conditions for kids in detention facilities around the state.

Foster Care

Metro to pick up cost of bus, train rides for thousands in foster program
Daily News, California – July 2, 2012
Thousands of youths aging out of the foster care system can get free rides on buses and trains operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and dozens of other carriers under a first-in-the-nation pilot program launched Monday.

College bound: Program guides potential students to degree path
Times Free Press, Tennessee – July 7, 2012
After Katrina Piatt graduated from high school almost 20 years ago, she went to college a couple of times, but always dropped out.  "I've made a lot of bad life choices," she said, without saying more.  But several years ago she decided she had to turn things around.

Teen Pregnancy

Teens balancing Parenting
WREG CBS, Memphis, TN – July 7, 2012
Fifteen year old Donisha Eatmon has had more life changes than most her age.  However, weeks after giving birth Donisha is back in class at Memphis City Schools Adolescent Pregnancy Program.