Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ (VBCPS) Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) was recently honored by Common Sense Education as a Common Sense Certified School for Digital Citizenship.
According to the organization, the JDC was selected because of “its commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing its students to use the immense power of digital media to explore, create, connect and learn, while limiting the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy and cyberbullying.”
This award is a first for a detention academic program in Virginia.
“We are so proud of the ongoing work from the administration, staff and students at the JDC,” said Cheryl Woodhouse, senior executive director of middle schools. “Students are learning firsthand the skills and the strategies for behaving online that will support them in their transition back to the comprehensive school setting as well as prepare them for the realities of living and working in this digital world.”
The JDC is a 90-bed facility that houses both male and female students ages 10-18, who have been detained by law enforcement and/or by a court order of a judge. All students detained at the JDC attend classes offered by the Virginia Beach JDC Education Program. Grades earned at the JDC are then transferred to the student’s home school once the student is released from the center.
For more information on the award, visit https://www.commonsense.org/education/recognition-districts. And, for more information on the JDC Education Program, visit vbschools.com.