Bill aims to help expelled and truant students get back on track - by Susan Frey
by Susan Frey
The purpose of a complicated bill aimed at preventing students from languishing in alternative schools became much clearer after the testimony of a former student who got stuck in one.
Jessie Camargo, now 18, was transferred to a community school two weeks before his eighth grade graduation. That summer he completed all the requirements set by his district, which included drug and alcohol counseling classes, 140 hours of community service, and an anger management class, but was not allowed to return to his regular high school. Instead, he spent 2 ½ years in the community school, he testified Wednesday at a Senate Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 744.
“The school operated on a complex track system,” he said. “Anything could hold you back, knock you down a track, and prevent you from exiting, even something as simple as not having a collared shirt. A lot of students couldn’t afford collared shirts so they received daily detention and were never eligible to exit.”
After his family found an attorney, the district agreed to allow him to return to his regular high school, but by then he was so far behind he could not graduate with his class, even though he attended after-school and evening classes. Camargo is now trying to get his high school diploma at
