Young offenders return to classes

Nearly 100 of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center's 450 residents now are back in the classroom, officials said this week.

The Nancy B. Jefferson School in the center for young offenders had been shut down since a February brawl that injured 16 youths and 10 staffers.

Now, with a severe shortage of detention center staffing being addressed, the center is bringing more kids back to school.

These new staffers have all received training, allowing an influx of students to the school, said Brenda Welch, the center's deputy transitional administrator.

Jefferson principal Judith Adams said groups of students receiving classroom instruction include 16, 17 and 18-year-old male residents facing adult charges, special education students, and, for the first time, a group of female residents.

Violent incidents led in part to the school's closing. There were 494 violent incidents at the school between April and June 2006, according to Cook County data.

Now, no more than 18 residents now move through the hallways at one time. Security staff, known at the center as counselors, are stationed in each classroom -- a measure never used before at the school.

So far, Welch said the system is working.

"To my knowledge there's been two fights in classrooms. Counselors have been able to intercede prior to things getting out of hand."

Adams was more hesitant to praise progress.

"Because there are so few children in the school right now, it's hard to give an objective appraisal," she said.

"You don't have as much of an impulse for aggressive behavior. It's a quieter environment right now."

Despite a loss of classroom time, the school was able to hold its annual middle school graduation last Thursday, Adams said.

"It was a little harder to identify which students had met requirements when they were being taught in their living units," Adams said.

Welch said she expects about 50 more students to re-enter the school in the next week.