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Politics & Government

Expelled Does Not Mean Forgotten

Sonoma County Office of Education Helps At-Risk Youth Graduate

By Gina Cuclis, Area One Trustee
Sonoma County Board of Education

As a new trustee of the Sonoma County Board of Education, I had the privilege of attending a recent graduation ceremony at the Wells Fargo Center of 37 students who had been at high risk of not finishing high school.

Many of the students participating in that graduation ceremony had been expelled from their local school districts. When a student is expelled from a school district, he or she still has the right to the quality education needed to complete high school. In Sonoma County, the Sonoma County Office of Education’s (SCOE) community schools provide that education. The Sonoma County Board of Education, of which I am a trustee representing Sonoma Valley and east Santa Rosa, is the governing body for these community schools.

A student speaker at the graduation gave this description of community schools: “The Sonoma County community school is an alternative way to help us learn to believe in ourselves so that we can succeed.” (Due to privacy issues, student names must be withheld.)

SCOE’s community schools provide a small-school, specialized learning environment for students who are experiencing difficulties in a traditional school setting, or who are exhibiting negative behavior patterns in school or the community.

SCOE community schools are Amarosa Academy in Santa Rosa and Headwaters Academy in Petaluma. Students at these schools are provided more personalized attention than at traditional public high schools. Class sizes are limited to no more than 20. Besides academics, there is an emphasis on addressing the issues that cause a student’s negative behavior.

“We address the life skills – how students make decisions and what is going on with them – so that they can attend school and graduate,” said Georgia Ioakimedes, Director of SCOE’s Alternative Education and Student Support Services.

Expelled students often feel like they’ve been thrown away. To address that Ioakimedes said, “We work to find that redeeming quality in a student, such as artistic talent, leadership skills, etc., and then capitalize on that positive quality to help the student find a way to feel successful.”

In his speech at the ceremony, a graduating senior described his life-changing experience at Amarosa Academy: “Before I came to Amarosa, I did not place any value on education. I did not see it having a place in my life. Because of this negative outlook, I was making choices that were not good for my future goals.”

He now plans to attend Santa Rosa Junior College with hopes to go beyond and get a bachelors degree.

Another graduate who spoke at the ceremony plans to enter the Navy. His speech discussed how he changed his attitude with the guidance and support of instructors at Headwaters Academy.

“Now, I know what it feels like to believe in myself. I have achieved gratitude and peace. I have learned to move on in life,” he said.

Credit for helping these students also goes to the public agencies and community-based organizations that collaborate with SCOE to provide supportive services: the Santa Rosa Rotary Club funds a program called Support Our Students that provides a Marriage Family Therapist and counseling interns, the Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship and Petaluma Learning and Guidance provide mental health and alcohol and drug abuse counseling, and the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County’s Literacy Program provides volunteer reading tutors.

Another group of students invisible to the general public, but not forgotten by SCOE, is the incarcerated youth at Los Guilicos, Sonoma County’s juvenile hall.

Whether a student is in juvenile hall for one day or multiple months, on intake he or she is given a reading and math assessment. SCOE also makes arrangements to get the student’s school transcripts and to learn what special instructional needs he or she may have.

“Our educational goal is to make sure students in juvenile hall keep up with what they would be doing in school. . We don’t want them to be behind when they return,” Ioakimedes said.

It’s not unusual every year to have several youth complete their high school education while incarcerated. SCOE and the county probation department recognize the accomplishment by providing a graduation ceremony. Attendance is limited to whom the probation department will allow students to invite, but the event has the spirit of a traditional graduation. Students are provided a cap and gown, and they march into the room to “Pomp and Circumstance” playing on a boom box. Cake and ice cream is served afterwards.

The County Office of Education is charged with educating Sonoma County’s most challenging students. Watching students, who had been at-risk of not graduating, receive their high school diplomas shows what a team determined to provide a quality education to all children can accomplish.


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