Closing County Juvenile Camps

The typical inmate in one of the county’s 14 juvenile camps, slated for closure if the governor’s proposal for drastic cuts in state aid to counties (Metro, April 11) goes into effect, is a 16-year-old gang member who has been arrested three times for robbery. He has committed a crime and is being punished, but is also getting a good education behind bars.

The kind of education the juvenile camp inmates receive can make the difference in the kind of lives they lead upon release.

“It’s hard to go back to being a car thief once you’ve been Sleeping Beauty.” That’s what a teen-age inmate of a camp told her drama teacher after performing in a school play.

“I’m going to start my own business. The same day I made my decision, I got word I could graduate at the Hollywood Bowl. That was the best day of my life.” No ordinary high school senior made this statement. This student might never have graduated if a judge had not sentenced him to a juvenile probation camp, where he attended class on a regular basis for the first time since elementary school.

If the camps close, where will the kids go? Will they be released early back to schools and communities not ready for them, where their histories of failure and crime will be repeated?

Where will they receive the education they need in order to turn their lives around? The alternative to camp placement is the already overburdened California Youth Authority system, where the costs are three times what it costs to keep a youthful offender in a camp. The instructional program at CYA does not compare to that in the camp schools operated by the L.A. County Office of Education--a fully accredited, individualized education program that results in two months of academic gain for each month of enrollment and gives kids like “Sleeping Beauty” the first enriched learning experiences of their lives.

More than 60 students graduated from camp schools last year. These graduates are now in colleges, in trade schools, or employed.

Take away the camps and we take away the best option available to the juvenile court judges for these kids. Take away the camps and we destory the best educational chance these kids have. Take away the camps and we do an injustice to the kids and to the community.

STUART E. GOTHOLD

Superintendent of Schools

Los Angeles County

Downey