From the October 16, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *4   PASS!:  SECOND-CHANCE PROGRAM FOR DALLAS STUDENTS
->    Some students who are expelled from school are offered a
-> second chance at the Positive Alternative for Student Success
-> (PASS!) alternative program (Everbach, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS,
-> 9/25).  The program is run by the Dallas County government, its first
-> venture at educating students, writes the paper.
->    PASS! opened this year after the Legislature passed a bill
-> that requires county juvenile justice departments to create
-> programs for youth offenders who are expelled from their regular
-> schools.  "We want this to be a fresh new approach," said DR.
-> Arzell Ball of the Texas Education Agency's Region 10 Service
-> Center, which helps run the school.  The Highland Park
-> Independent School District contributed $4M to help with start-up
-> costs, and the county also plans to get $600,000 from the state.
-> PASS! students adhere to an "extremely structured" agenda,
-> reports the paper.  Classes begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at 5:30
-> p.m.  They wear uniforms of T-shirts with different colors
-> denoting different levels of behavior.  For example, all students
-> begin the program with yellow shirts, if they earn enough points, the
-> progress to brown shirts, and eventually green ones.  The
-> student-teacher ratio is 8-to-1, and the staff includes
-> counselors, a social worker and Juvenile Department youth
-> workers, writes the paper.  "We're of the opinion that if you can
-> change attitudes and modify behavior, learning will follow," said Dr.
-> Juan Sanchez, the school's principal.
->    Students must remain in the PASS! program for at least one
-> semester.  Parents also must attend an initial screening "in
-> which school officials determine each child's level in school,
-> discuss family and personal problems and come up with possible
-> solutions," writes the paper.
->    Sanchez reported that the attendance rate so far is about
-> 75%, a strong record for an alternative school.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 10
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