If magnet schools are the great attractions of the Chicago education system, then the Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School is a case of reverse polarity. It takes in the kids who would rather be anywhere else.
The school is run out of the second floor of the old Cook County Juvenile Court building at 1100 S. Hamilton St., and it has, well, a captive audience. Its students, 500 strong on any given day, are in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. All are awaiting hearings or trial on charges as serious as murder. They’re as young as 10 and as old as 17.
When they’re in school, they study English, history, science, math, computers, business and vocational education. When they’re out of school, they languish in their cells, playing cards or watching TV.
This summer, it appears that they’re going to get an uninterrupted curriculum of blackjack and poker.
In 1993 the Chicago Board of Education eliminated funds for the school’s summer program. The school used a surplus of Chapter One funds to save the program last year, but the surplus has been exhausted. Unless someone comes up with a quick solution, the school will shut down for the summer.
That would be a serious mistake. If Chicago and Cook County intend to do anything more than warehouse their most troubled kids, they have to provide a year-round educational program for them.
The Jefferson School provides an opportunity–perhaps the last–to reach some of these kids and turn them around before they fall into the adult criminal justice system. They can’t be considered beyond redemption; indeed, since they’re being handled as juveniles, most are likely to be back in their communities fairly quickly. Better that they should have spent their time in detention learning how to read than learning how to fill an inside straight.
Administrators and members of the Local School Council are scrambling to find $90,000 to maintain the summer education program. Their entreaties so far have largely fallen on deaf ears at the Board of Education and the Cook County Board.
The school system faces a $150 million deficit, and the school board is now out of business. If help is going to come, it appears that it will have to come from the county, which has the legal responsibility for housing and handling these kids.
The county board and President John Stroger must move quickly to secure the summer education program at the detention center. The county will have to feed, house and supervise these kids under any circumstances. It’s no less important to stimulate their minds.
