ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI—
Too often it is a story with no happy ending. a student misbehaves in school ,tries drugs, turns to violence and gets kicked out. But some are getting a second chance thanks to a city juvenile judge. A year ago Judge Jimmie Edwards founded the Innovative Concept Charter School to teach children who wound up in his court or were considered trouble makers in the city school system. Thanks to extra services and small classes plus high expectations, most of the 300 kids are finding success.Saturday night, St. Louis Juvenile Judge Jimmie Edwards was honored and "roasted" at the Juvenile Justice Awards Dinner sponsored by the Mark Twain Community Resource Center. "We have these great expectations of our children. We introduce them to things that are new and different and they like a challenge and it becomes competition for them and as a result they end up doing well,"said Edwards
"I think that we have smaller classrooms, we have more services that area available than the public schools. The public school, I believe has done a wonderful job. The last year the map scores have all gone up, but in our school at the Innovative Concept Academy, we have mental health professionals inside the building . We have professionals in the building that address stress and address tragedies,"said Edwards. Not only was Judge Edwards honored , his success story appears in the latest issue of St. Louis Magazine and will soon be featured in the National Publication "People Magazine.".
