Throwaway kids: disciplined California teens struggle to school themselves
Strict district policies, distance from alternatives leave some no option but 'independent study'
LOST HILLS, Calif. — On a blistering May day in California’s Central Valley, most other 13-year-olds were in classrooms down the road. But Erick Araujo was under strict orders from his mother to stay inside with a U.S. history textbook.
Despite the orders, the 7th grader didn’t really have much to do. Over four days, while his buddies were finishing up the school year, Erick’s only task was to read three chapters from the book and answer, briefly, a few questions per chapter.
“Pretty easy,” the boy with braces shrugged, leafing through pages.
He had no math. No English. No science. And no other books to engage his love of history.
But this could be how Erick gets his education for months to come, at least until he’s half way through 8th grade in early 2014.
That’s because in February, Erick was expelled for a year from Lost Hills’ only junior high, A.M. Thomas Middle School, and told to enroll at a “community school” for kids with discipline problems that is run by Kern County. But that school is 38 miles away — so far away that staff there suggested Erick’s mom put