Thank You for Another Successful GivingTuesday 11.30.22
GivingTuesday began in 2012 as a simple idea: encouraging people to do good the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. SJP participated in this day of giving again this year with Catalogue for Philanthropy. Thank you to our SJP community for all of your donations and support to SJP on GivingTuesday and throughout the year!
This year, we highlighted the story of one of our clients, Kyle, about how he achieved his educational goals while facing significant challenges. Kyle’s story is inspirational to all of us at SJP and your donations are what make this work possible. Thank you!
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In March 2022, SJP Staff Attorney Sophie Thackray met with new client Kyle for the first time. Kyle had been incarcerated at the DC Jail since August 2020, amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During much of that time, students at the jail were not receiving any live lessons or teacher instruction in school. Throughout the first year of the pandemic, they only had access to work packets, which were difficult to complete without teacher assistance and did not include differentiated instructions to meet the student's individualized learning needs. Kyle was confined to his cell for twenty-three hours a day, making it impossible to seek help from teachers with his assignments or receive feedback on his work. Despite these challenges, Kyle remained committed to his goal of earning his high school diploma.
Unfortunately, Kyle was facing additional barriers to graduation. He had recently turned 22 and was about to age out of eligibility for special education services. Additionally, he was scheduled for sentencing in just a few weeks. Kyle faced a sentence of significant time in the federal Bureau of Prisons, which has no high school diploma program. If Kyle wasn't able to complete his high school diploma at the DC Jail, he would lose the opportunity forever. According to the school's records, Kyle was only a sophomore in high school. Even if sentencing could be postponed to the end of the school year, it seemed there was no hope of Kyle completing his high school diploma.
Sophie quickly convened a meeting with Kyle and the administrators of his school. They corrected numerous errors on Kyle's transcript, including missing credits, and developed a plan to help Kyle graduate by the end of the school year. Ahead of Kyle's scheduled sentencing, Sophie presented this plan to the court and emphasized the value of postponing the sentencing to give Kyle the opportunity to complete his high school diploma.
The judge granted Kyle the additional time, and Kyle made good use of it. With Sophie's support and his own hard work and dedication, Kyle succeeded in graduating from high school in June 2022, just one week before his sentencing. When Kyle returns home, he will still be a young man with many opportunities available to him as a high school graduate. He is also equipped with pride and confidence that he can achieve his goals.
11/30/22
