PeachStar Partners with the Department of Juvenile Justice

In early June, Orlando Martinez , the new Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), was in our facility taping Georgia Week in Review, one of GeorgiaPublic Television's popular public affairs programs. Alert PeachStar staff took advantage of that opportunity to acquaint the Commissioner with the potential of the PeachStar Satellite Network. All Youth Development Centers (YDCs), which areDJJ's facilities for incarcerated youth, are equipped with satellite dishes and are therefore ideally suited to take advantage of PeachStar's instructional programming.

Since that first meeting, PeachStar and DJJ staff have identified several ways the two organizations can work together. Activities will focus on training principals and faculties at YDCs to use PeachStar programs and services to meet the needs of incarcerated youth. Other professional development opportunities, including upgrading teacher certification, can also be delivered direct to DJJ faculty and staff via PeachStar. This will be a tremendous help to DJJ faculty whose students are with them year round.

PeachStar and DJJ see a tremendous potential for using distance learning to reach out and serve some of Georgia's students who are most in need of a quality education.

PeachStar Adds a New Channel

In the past, PeachStar's primary channel has been 410, and most of the 410 schedule has been dedicated to serving K-12 classrooms, with some staff development and postsecondary programming offered afternoons and evenings. Channel 430 has been an "occasional" use@ channel, which PeachStar has used from time to time to air blockfeeds and programming that wouldn't fit on Channel 410. Other parties, including commercial clients, also have used the 430 channel when it was available.

* As of now, both 410 and 430 will be used exclusively by PeachStar.
* PeachStar Channel 410 will continue to provide programming for early childhood education, grades Pre K - 12, and professional development for teachers, media specialists, and school administrators.
* PeachStar Channel 430 will be used to provide customized broadcast schedules through the very popular Video on Request service. Channel 430 will also air programming for postsecondary students attending colleges, universities and technical institutes as well as broadcasts aimed at adult learners including continuing education and adult literacy.

More Good News: Georgia Public Television (GPTV), which broadcasts programming to all Georgia homes, soon will expand its broadcast day to a full 24 hours, six days a week. The target date for this expansion of service is January 3, 2000. PeachStar's instructional programming will make up a significant portion of GPTV's overnight schedule. This will allow Georgians without special satellite receivers to take advantage of PeachStar's video resources.

With these changes in place, PeachStar can more fully realize its mission - "to broadcast quality programming to learners of all ages and support services to those who assist the learners"