Second Chances
For decades, inner city schools in Baltimore MD and Washington DC have struggled with students receiving the proper education and high dropout rates. According to an article in The Hill written in 2017, Baltimore MD reading proficiency rates hovered around 11 percent, math proficiency around 12 and graduation rates were at 70%. Along with this, both inner city Baltimore and Washington DC neighborhoods deal with large amounts of crime and poverty. Growing up in an environment where crime is something you constantly whiteness, it’s easy to fall into that pattern as well.
Darrien Cook, Age 17
In an 2017 Forbes article titled “Americas ‘Inner City’ Problem, As Seen In One Baltimore Neighborhood” states that “Neighborhoods like McElderry Park ( once middleclass) now serve version of the city’s downward spiral. About one-third of the families that live there live in poverty, and workforce participation levels are 54%. Nearly three- quarters of residents don’t have any college education, meaning they are generally supported either by the government, or low- wage service jobs- which make up an increasingly high percentage of jobs in the city”.
When we look at the statistics around the way these inner-city schools’ function and the impact it has on the students, it’s hard to ignore the school to prison pipeline effect. This zero- tolerance discipline has resulted in Black students facing disproportionately harsher punishment than white students in public schools. Black students represent 31% of school related arrests and are expelled three times more than white students. Which oftentimes leads these students to be in contact with the juvenile justice system the following year.
Looking at the kind of impact these school have on the students. In a 2007 article by the New York Times titled “School to Prison Pipeline” it mentions that “Kids who find themselves caught in this unnecessary tour of the criminal justice system very quickly develop malignant attitudes toward law enforcement. Many drop out of school. In worst cases, the experience serves as an introductory course in behavior that is, in fact criminal.... Increasingly, epically as zero- tolerance policies proliferate, children are being treated like criminals for the most minor offences. There should be no obligation to call the police of a couple of kids get into a fight and teachers are able to bring it under control. But now, in many cases, youngsters caught fighting and arrested and charged with assault”.
Silver Oak Academy, located in Taneytown, Maryland, serves as a private run institution for youth who have committed criminal offenses. Rather than focusing on Restorative justice, Silver oak Academy places a strong emphasis on these young men receiving a formal education in order to improve themselves. In a 2016 article by the Baltimore Sun, it states that Maryland has dealt with its fair share of failing government-run systems used for education and rehabilitating juvenile delinquents, however, Silver Oak Academy has been hailed by leaders of the General Assembly as a model for success.
Second Chances shares the story of a young man’s (Darrien Cook) journey to Improvement. While living in Baltimore, Maryland, he found himself wrapped up with crime and, subsequently, a Juvenile record. Darrien completed his sentence at Silver Oak Academy, an Alternative High School for adjudicated youth. Through the guidance of the facility and staff, he finds his path to success.