How An Alternative School District Serves New York City’s Most Vulnerable Students (2024)

Transitional periods can be rough. For teenagers who are sent to Rikers Island, successful transitions can mean the difference between a thriving future and returning to prison. So how does New York City aid the teenagers who need more guidance than the rest upon their return home? Tim Lisante, the Executive Superintendent of New York School District 79, says opportunities and mentors make all the difference for vulnerable populations like these.

“The whole goal is to have the students have more opportunities to continue in college, or a career, or both,” Lisante says in an interview. He’s speaking about the educational programs offered by New York City’s little-known alternative school district, which helps a variety of the city’s non-traditional students, including those who are incarcerated or transitioning back into school after being detained.

District 79 opened its first transfer school — a school designed to provide educational services for court-involved youth — in 1983 and has been expanding its juvenile justice education programs ever since. District 79 now has 169 sites designed to reach any student (age 13–21) who is unable to attend a regular public school due to circ*mstances interrupting their education.

Commonly, students in District 79 are trying to obtain a high school diploma but are either too old to attend their district’s public high school or are lacking in course credits they need to graduate. The district also has support programs for students who are parents, students who are struggling with substance abuse, and court-involved students who need legal guidance. Whatever the case, District 79 tries to meet the needs of over 14,000 students annually who are learning outside of a traditional school setting. But the students who often need the most guidance are those who have been previously incarcerated.

“It’s really important that we keep students who find themselves in these situations on track, so they don’t fall further behind towards their high school diploma,” Lisante says. These students are often facing problems that compound their arrest — some have unstable homes or were in foster care prior to entering the juvenile justice system.

Although there are many factors, District 79’s approach to helping court-involved youth can be broken down into three main categories:

1. Mentorship

After they’re discharged from a juvenile justice education program — schools that provide educational services to students who are incarcerated or detained — every student is assigned their own “transition specialist.” District 79 is in its third year of using these specialists, who Lisante describes as a mix between a guidance counselor and social worker. The main goal is to connect students with a school that will serve them post-incarceration — whether it’s a D79 school, regular public school, or college — as well as support them for six months while reentering their communities. This continuous support is imperative because “a lot of times the first placement doesn’t always work out,” Lisante says. The mentors are “supporting students and their families all the way through graduation,” helping students not only get into a school, but ensure they stay there.

2. Communication

“Communication is so important, especially when you’re as big and as spread out as we are,” says Lisante. District 79 principals have relationships with other educators in all five boroughs, easing the student’s transition to a home school.

“The principals are empowered to grant credit,” Lisante tells me. He explains that every course credit is transferable and recorded on their transcript, “So when they do go back to their next schools, everything’s delineated as far as what course they passed and what course they need to get a High School Diploma.” Additionally, all counselors electronically record notes and reports into a single system, so that everyone can keep track of the progress students are making.

Lisante said seven years earlier, when students got placed upstate far away from their homes in the city, student academic records would sometimes get lost. In 2011, New York City implemented the program Close to Home, aimed at locating court-involved youth to a detention placement closer to their families and communities. Lisante adds that allowing these students to get their education from NYC Department of Education, instead of New York State, adds to the success of the program.

3. Opportunities for Success

Empowering students with opportunities for academic and career success is another way that District 79 serves its students.

Judith Kaye High School, named after the first woman to serve as chief judge of The New York Court of Appeals, is a school where students can work towards a high school diploma and certifications for career and technical education. The two-year-old school is the first transfer school that has Career Technical Education (CTE) embedded in its facilities — literally. The high school shares its space with the School of Cooperative Technical Education (Co-op Tech) on 96th Street in Manhattan. Judith Kaye prides itself on giving students a nurturing school experience through smaller class sizes and free on-site mental health for students and staff.

Additionally, District 79 offers students paid internships in the careers they’re interested in. Students often need financial help when they get out, and unfortunately, “Many students don’t have someone they can go to support them.” During the 2016–2017 school year, 772 students in District 79 received a paid internship, earning a collective total of $1,137,462, according to a report from the Department of Education.

The goal across all District 79 programs is the same as any other New York City public school: help students earn a diploma and equip them with the skills necessary to be successful in life. But, due to their prior state of incarceration, the students in District 79 need more guidance than traditional public schools can offer them. In that sense, District 79 is serving a marginalized population of students whose academic capabilities are often underestimated based on their past.

“Nobody should be judged by just one event,” Lisante says. “Let’s give everybody a shot.”