Juvenile offenders offered training

SAN BENITO — A charter high school and vocational training program is being expanded to serve 75 or more youthful offenders at a time, using a former branch county tax office as its new home.

The Thomas M. Buzbee Career Academy, housed in the Art Goolsby Building, will be the main site for the charter high school program.

Academic diplomas will be awarded to graduates, said Tommy Ramirez, chief executive officer of the Darrell B. Hester Cameron County Juvenile Justice Center.

A high school equivalency diploma program will be offered for juvenile offenders 16 and older who participate in a variety of vocational training courses, such carpentry and bricklaying, Ramirez said.

The program, which will be operated by Gulf Coast Trade Center Inc. of Waverly, Texas, has already been in operation on a very limited basis for four years at the Hester center, Ramirez said.

Funding for the program will come from the “Average Daily Attendance” state reimbursement program, through the program’s charter high school status, Ramirez said.

“We’re also looking for some grants from the federal government,” he said. “This is a very expensive program to run.”

Juvenile Court Judge Menton Murray Jr. is already requiring participation in the program as part of probation sentences in his court, Ramirez said.

In addition to carpentry and bricklaying, the program will also offer a fiber optic cabling program, culinary training, computer technology and an auto body program that will be started after a garage can be obtained, Ramirez said.

There is a great need for a training program designed for students who have not succeeded in the public schools and who no longer fit in at a public high school, Ramirez said. His department is screening a stack of about 140 applications and officials hope to select 75 to 80 students for the expanded program, he said.

Juvenile offenders who are not at first selected must return to programs at their former high schools, he said.

“There are a high number of kids who have not been successful in the public schools,” Ramirez said. “Valley-wide, 53 percent of freshmen are not going on to graduate.”

Participants will gain skills that will allow them to go directly into the job market, Ramirez said. “We are salvaging some of them so they can become taxpayers, not a burden on society,” he said.

Eventually, the program will include construction of entire houses by students, Ramirez said. The houses will be sold to low-income families at a 0 percent interest rate through an affordable housing program, he said.

Officials are planning a 10 a.m. Aug. 30 ceremony to open the new school, he said.

Buzbee was the founder of the Gulf Coast Trade Center, Ramirez said.

Buzbee was a longtime friend recently who traveled to the Valley to announce state approval of a charter school certificate for the program and died only a few days after visiting the Rio Grande Valley, Ramirez said.