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NC Program Hopes To Keep Students In School, Out Of Court

North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley joins Gov. Roy Cooper, law enforcement officials, and community leaders to announce the official release of the School Justice Partnership Toolkit during a press conference at Eastern Guilford High School. KERI BROWN/WFDD

A program that has taken root in several North Carolina communities to keep kids in school and out of the courtroom could soon expand across the state.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley was among several speakers during a media briefing in Guilford County on Monday to discuss the initiative for non-violent offenses. It's called the School Justice Partnership Toolkit.

It provides school systems across the state with a step-by-step guide to establish their own programs that can be tailored to their needs. The program focuses on building relationships with various stakeholders.

Beasley says school resource officers will also work closely with districts during the process. She says it will help law enforcement decide what student behavior cases would result in an arrest or minor punishment.

“It's important to really think about whether or not these young people are hungry, whether or not they are suffering from maltreatment, whether or not they have a caregiver in their family who is ill or suffering from addiction, and these are problems that are better addressed by the social services system rather than our courts,” says Beasley.

Beasley says research shows that when a student is referred to the juvenile justice system, they are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to repeat a grade in school and more likely to be charged later on as an adult with more serious offenses.

According to the state, last year more than 11,000 children were referred to the juvenile justice system from schools, and only a fraction of those offenses were very serious ones.

The School Justice Partnership is currently in 35 of the state's counties. Organizers hope it will take hold in all 100 counties.

*You can follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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