Neglected, Delinquent, and At Risk Students

The purpose of prevention and intervention programs for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk include the following:

• To improve educational services for children and youth in local institutions so that such children and youth have the opportunity to meet the same challenging state academic content standards and challenging state student academic achievement standards that all children in the Baldwin County Public School System are expected to meet.
• To provide such children and youth with the services needed to make a successful transition from institutionalization to further schooling or employment.
• To prevent at-risk youth from dropping out of school, and to provide dropouts, children, and youth returning from correctional facilities or institutions for neglected or delinquent children and youth with a support system to ensure their continued education. 

The Baldwin County Public School System provides financial assistance to educational programs for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk.  These educational programs focus primarily on the transition and academic needs of students transitioning to and from various off-site facilities, i.e., the Alternative School, the Crossroads Program, the Wilderness Center, the Crisis Intervention Center, and the Juvenile Detention Center. 

In addition, a transition liaison coach is employed through the use of Title I, Part D monies to provide support services to schools, students, and their families in order to resolve personal, social, emotional, and academic problems as students transition between alternative schools, court-ordered placement, and non-traditional settings.  In addition, the transition liaison coach also assumes the following responsibilities:

• Assists in the proper transferring of student records from the off-campus site facility to the students’ base school
• Works as a liaison between the school and the students’ parents/guardians to ensure students’ attendance in school
• Works as a liaison between the teachers and the students to ensure that the student is in compliance with the stipulations of his return to school, school rules, and school responsibilities
• Works with high school students to develop a graduation and career plan
• Provides support and outreach to parents/guardians of high school students identified as being at risk of not graduating
• Keeps an academic journal on assigned students
• Mentors students as needs arise
• Connects individual students and their parents with community organizations
• Maintains student information to help students acquire credits to either proceed to the next grade, graduate, or obtain a GED
• Documents all contact with students, parents, teachers, administrators, and others

Before a student returns to his/her base school, the transition liaison coach will convene a meeting, which will consist of an administrator, parent, school counselor, teacher, and the student.  Additional team members may possibly include the school nurse, a resource teacher, or the juvenile probation officer. 

The purpose of this meeting is to evaluate the students’ educational needs—prior to him/her returning to his base school.  During this meeting, a transition plan will be developed for the student, which will review his educational, extracurricular, and transportation needs.  In addition, the transition plan will review any special needs that the students may have, as well as the students’ mental and physical needs.  A copy of the students’ transition plan will be shared with them, and a copy will also be given to the students’ parents.