Bars To Education: Westchester School Gives City's Incarcerated Youth A Fighting Chance

Lindsey Christ NY1 08/19/2010 14:15

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.

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.