Convicts could tutor at-risk students
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Updated: November 12, 2009 4:41 PM
A program that puts convicted criminals in the classroom with at-risk students could be making its way to School District No. 42.
The program, called Partners in Learning, would see low-risk, fully-rehabilitated inmates who are eligible for day parole assist in the classroom with the district’s Connex alternative learning program at South Lillooet Centre, the former Yennadon elementary building on 232 Street.
Michelle Schmidt, the district’s vice-principal of Keeping Kids in School, said the program could help reach at-risk students before they end up behind bars themselves.
“For many of these kids, if they don’t change drastically their course, they could end up incarcerated,” she said.
The program has been in place for more than 15 years in the neighbouring Mission and Abbotsford school districts, and has operated in that time without any reported negative incidents. The inmates chosen for the program would have completed their rehabilitation, and would not have been convicted of violent or sexual offenses. They would be accompanied at all times by a fully-trained teacher or teacher’s aide, who would act as the inmate’s “civilian escort.”
The program would be optional for parents, students, and teachers, all of whom would have to approve of an inmate’s participation in the classroom.
Proponents of the program spoke at Tuesday’s school board meeting, and stressed Partners in Learning was not a rehabilitative exercise, but a way to develop healthy accountable, responsible individuals on both sides, and help create safer communities.
Drusilla Wilson, president of the Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association, sees value in the program.
“A lot of these youngsters, they see a positive potential in a life of crime,” she said. “Having someone who can put it into perspective for you is beneficial.”
Having an inmate assist in the classroom would also allow for more one-on-one time with students.
“That can be very effective, many of these youngsters need more close attention,” said Wilson, whose her first full-time teaching position was at Matsqui Prison. “I’m interested in the concept.”
The program was founded by Glen Flett, who served more than 14 years behind bars for killing a department store clerk in Scarborough, Ont., during a robbery in 1978. Flett became a born-again Christian while incarcerated and since his release in 1992, has worked to help inmates make the transition back into society through his foundation, Long-term Inmates Now in the Community (LINC), which promotes restorative justice for convicted criminals and their victims. Flett was awarded the University College of the Fraser Valley’s volunteer of the year award in 1996 for his work with Partners in Learning.
However, Stewart Sonne, the school district’s Director of Secondary and Adult Education, says there still needs to be consultations with the district’s various partner groups, namely CUPE and the Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association, before the program is considered.
