The scene is familiar. There are banners. There are balloons. Excited friends and family wander around taking photos of the soon-to-be graduates in their red cap and gowns. This is the graduation ceremony for the PACE Center for Girls, a partnership program run by the school district, and the department of juvenile justice. Students are referred to the center by both entities.
“If you look nationwide a lot of the problems we have in schools are females that have been abused or battered, and bring those issues to school and they act out because they’re seeking attention.”
That’s Rocky Hanna, former principal of Leon High School. Hanna is now with the Leon County School District and oversees its special site schools, like PACE. Hanna says for every one girl that goes to PACE, there are more who probably need it:
“PACE for girls now has 60 [students]. But I’m going to be honest with you. Just in Leon County alone it could double or triple. There is such a need for what they’re doing.”
There are 17 PACE centers throughout the state. The program is for at-risk girls, some who have been swept up into the juvenile justice system and others who have had problems at their regular school. PACE is a prevention program says the Department of Juvenile Justice’s Education expert Joan Wimmer. It was first established in Jacksonville almost 30 years ago as a response to the lack of programs for girls.
“Most of our programming is absolutely for boys. We got better. And I can look you in the face and say we’re serving girls and meeting girls’ needs. But it’s been a process. And PACE was a step in that process," she said.
The Road to Graduation
One by one, four graduates walk into the atrium of the Bethel AME Church in Tallahassee’s South Side. One of those grads is Kimara Davis . She came to PACE from Rickards High School, where she says she wasn’t doing so well. Band was her life, she says, and that left little time for anything else. Her grades suffered. She fell behind in her classes. But now, Kimara proudly holds a high school diploma. And she’s got plans:
“I plan on going to TCC for two years and then transferring to FSU to become a Spanish and sign language translator,” she said.
Davis says she was inspired by a cousin who is deaf. Also at the ceremony is Bonnie Delaney. She’s not quite ready to graduate, but will soon be transferring to the Leon County Adult and Community Education Center, where she plans to earn her GED. Bonnie says she hated PACE at first. But then, things changed.
“They helped me a lot. I have a lot of family problems, so that is what my biggest issue was and that’s what they helped me on. Everyone was so open and willing to talk to you. We always say you have a PACE mom that you just tell everything to," Delaney said.
Administrators with the PACE Center for Girls in Tallahassee say that’s what the program is designed to do. In addition to education, there is therapy. If a girl is sick, someone goes to check on her. Officials say they are aware that many of their students, like Bonnie, have family problems, and their aim is to give as much support to their students as possible. That support is also a growing mission of the Department of Juvenile Justice, says Joan Wimmer.
“The majority of our kids are no different than any kid in a typical public high school. You and I did stupid things growing up. But the world was different. And these are kids who need an opportunity to prove themselves.”
Wimmer says education has taken a larger role in how DJJ interacts with students. Last year there were 500-600 graduates from its 120 facilities. Students in DJJ programs earned diplomas, and GED’s. Many, like the recent grads from Tallahassee’s PACE Center for Girls, are college-bound.
