Hi Barb,
Our students sometimes return from prison to towns where they do not 
have easy access to our community campuses . In one such case, I had a 
student who needed just two more credits to graduate, but he was moving 
out of state. I provided him with assignments to complete and return to 
me by mail, sort of a correspondence course, I guess. The outcome was 
not what I hoped for. He called me once, but never did any of the 
assignments.

We have found that our students often do very well in school when they 
are incarcerated, but many forces conspire to make continued schooling 
difficult after they get out. In prison, their basic needs are met, 
meals, health care, warmth, bed, clothing, etc. On their own back in the 
community, they have to work hard to provide these things for 
themselves. Other issues such as family, social, job, transportation and 
other responsibilities required of them by their probation office (e.g. 
substance abuse counseling, restitution, etc.) interfere with their 
ability to attend classes and progress stops. We have not yet found a 
good solution for these folks.

A few of us have been thinking about putting some sort of online 
distance learning program on our school web site, but this is only in 
the dream stage right now.

Tom Woods
Community High School of Vermont

Barbara Garner wrote:

Has anyone's program taken this into account and put into place supports for students who want to continue to study on their own when not actively participating in a program?