Bars To Education: Westchester School Gives City's Incarcerated Youth A Fighting Chance
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Young people in jail often have serious social and emotional issues which can keep them from learning much in the jailhouse schools, but a Westchester school is letting New York City mental health services factor into the academic reforms. NY1's Educational reporter Lindsey Christ filed this fifth part of her week-long series "Bars To Education." At Phoenix House Academy in Westchester County, even the toughest students learn to talk about their feelings.
"We do our philosophy here at Phoenix every morning," says student Cesar Espinoza. "We ask anybody if they have any good feelings, bad feelings."
Students attend Phoenix on judges' orders, but Department of Education officials say Phoenix does a much better job addressing students' social and emotional needs than other schools for incarcerated students. It also has a much better academic record.
"It's a therapeutic community and it's all based on strengths-based strategies for individual students. How are we going to get this student through?" says DOE official Timothy Lisante.
Phoenix Academy serves students who struggle with addiction, and while for many of the teenagers it is either jail or Phoenix, the atmosphere is less restrictive than at secure detention facilities.
While Phoenix is part of the New York City school system, even though it is located in a converted monastery in Westchester County. All of which makes living at Phoenix very different from living on Rikers Island, yet officials say what works at the Westchester school could also work in the jails.
"Phoenix is an example of a very exemplary partnership in counselors working together with teachers and providing seamless services to students," says Lisante.
"I think the best part about this collaboration is the teamwork between the clinical staff and the DOE staff," says Phoenix Principal Anda McGowan. "The teachers are constantly talking in communication with the counselors, talking about the students and their needs. They're getting support from both the educational staff, and the clinical staff to help them be successful."
Officials say Phoenix will serve as a model as they reform the schools in other detention facilities.
"In social and emotional support, we have Department of Correction staff, [Department of Health and Mental Hygiene] staff, DOE staff, community-based organizations," says Superintendent of Alternative Schools Cami Anderson. "One thing we need to do is to be better at aligning all those resources and coordinating, so the young person feels like we have a comprehensive plan for them. So there are a lot of adults. We need to make sure that all those adults are working together."
For students, trusting their teachers and coping with their emotions allows them to get back on track in the classroom.
"They help me a lot. They talk to me, they are like 'Do you need help with this?' And I admitted I needed help, because I never admitted I needed help," says student Tatiana Ramiraz.