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.
