Getting to the Finish Line: A decades long marathon near mile 18 for Five Keys student

For Jennifer Clark, school this fall feels like the 19th mile in a marathon. She is so close to the 26-mile finish line, but algebra, physical science and her own fears are threatening to trip her.

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“This is really, really hard,” says the Novato resident. “But I’ve got to do it, I’ve got to show my kids that I can be more than just someone who had a lot of babies.”

There is no doubt that training/studying for her high school diploma has been beyond challenging at times.

Now 45, Clark dropped out high school her freshman year when she became pregnant with her first of eight children. The next few decades were not that kind. She’s struggled with debilitating depression and fought to survive through abusive relationships with one of her two husbands, and several of her children’s fathers. Clark was sent to jail for a week for fighting back during a domestic violence dispute — an incident that cost her her job as a certified nursing assistant at a home for the elderly and marred her record, making finding employment difficult.

But on June 10, 2019 exactly, a Five Keys Schools and Programs graduate told Clark about the program and she enrolled right away. Now, just 36.75 credits from achieving her high school graduation, she is determined to “hold my head high and skip across the stage,” to receive her high school diploma.

She attributes that feat to the compassion and coaching of her teacher, Mrs. Carla, at the Vallejo Five Keys location and the school’s principal, Ms. Rachel.

“My speech is going to be about one true teacher that has held it down and helped me and never ever given up on me,” says Clark. “And believe me, I’m a pain in the butt.”

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She also is grateful for the patience and flexibility Mrs. Carla gave her in the classroom.

“Many times, I was so depressed and just wanted to give up, but she stood by my side and kept saying, ‘you can do this. You can’t let your dreams die.”

During her Five Keys schooling, Jennifer was given a certificate of graduation in 2017 by the Novato police department as a peer support substance abuse counselor, a role she says falls near and dear to her heart because her sister struggled with substance abuse and she is eager to help others.

These days, Clark says she hunkers down all day long every day studying for her degree online.

Throughout it all, she says she always kept her eye on the prize, her eight children — Anna Maria, 29, Rafael, 27, Rolando, 25, Miguel, 22, Rudy, 20, Samuel, 12, Hannah, 11, Jennifer, 9, and grandson, Gordo. Two of her youngest children are special needs, so she says she is a full-time mom and student. Any time she feels like quitting, she thinks of her family.

Clark says she knows how happy she will feel when she finishes. “I’m already thinking ahead to taking some college classes,” she says. “I want to do something in law enforcement. I really like helping people, especially when they are in trouble and need help. I still can’t believe I’ll be 45 when I finish high school. But hey, I finally am going to do it.”

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Back to School: What confronting the challenges of COVID-19 looks like for students and teachers in jail lockdown

“Tutors at your fingertips”: ZOOM and hand-delivered lesson plans result in record number of inmates graduating from high school during
global pandemic
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA, August 26, 2020. As schools across the country begin a new academic year under the shadow of a global pandemic, ugly discourse, and high anxiety, educators at the Alameda County Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA are confronting many challenges to continue access to education behind bars for more than 300 adult students.

We realized that there was a greater need than ever for us to keep connecting with students during COVID,” says Lillian Santos-Stables, principal at the Santa Rita Jail high school education program, which is run by Five Keys Schools and Programs.

Calling it “tutors at your fingertips,” a new service launched earlier this week, a school hotline for inmates who were distributed tablets allows them to schedule and phone in for tutoring from the Five Keys teachers who are on-site at the jail, but remotely tutoring from their offices. The jail also expanded their inmate ZOOM visitation program so that teachers can “visit” with students in supervised online sessions and is continuing a program instituted in March, where books, lesson plans and other learning materials are prepared by the teachers, distributed to the students and then returned and graded.

Due to the creativity and exceptional adjustments of Five Keys and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office working in tandem, 15 incarcerated students at the Santa Rita jail graduated high school this summer — more than any year before, according to Sergeant Daniel Molleson, Director of Inmate Services. “COVID actually opened up a new opportunity for us. Our inmates became hypervigilant about focusing on their own self-development and really focused on their education this summer. We are creating a new way of learning and moving away from the way it used to be. We are creating the new normal.”

Throughout the summer, small groups of socially distanced students also met for targeted courses on health and hygiene (especially significant during the pandemic). This fall, there will be podcasts and learning sessions on voter registration and information on the importance of voting and how inmates can vote.

The creative pivot to continue to provide education to the jail’s inmates was jump-started last March immediately after COVID shuttered schools across the nation.

The mission is urgent for Five Keys‘ schools to continue imparting lessons in civics, history, math, and ethics, has always been urgent, but now especially so, says Santos-Stables.

Continuing inmate’s access to education reduces crime and increases the likelihood of successful reentry to society. Research shows that higher education in prison is a proven tool for changing lives. One study found that participants in correctional education were 48% less likely to return to crime. Another showed that education in prison can improve employment among returning citizens.

Education behind bars transforms lives.

School gives our inmates a sense of drive and accomplishment and it occupies their time,” says Sgt. Molleson. “Our students feel productive and that they are making positive changes in their lives. Without it, we would have more fights, depression; it just changes their overall well-being. It changes their thinking to not look at time in custody as wasted time in their lives.”

Santos-Stables and Sgt. Molleson are a dedicated team on a mission to educate inmates. Moments
like celebrating the graduations of the 15 students including Tiara Arnold, 27, are life-changing. Arnold was arrested at age 17, and has lived at Santa Rita, and then prison, but is back awaiting an appeal of her conviction.

Says Arnold: “When I got arrested, my life was really going in the wrong direction. I was really distracted and made a lot of poor decisions. But while life was progressing for everyone else, I didn’t go to prom, I didn’t graduate from high school and I didn’t get to do the one thing my mom asked me to do, which was to get my high school diploma. I was in the worst place my life could be. But now, since people invested so much in me and helped me believe in myself, I am determined to lead a life that is meaningful and helpful to others. I plan to go to college and hope to help my mom with her business and help other at-risk kids who are struggling.”

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About Five Keys Schools & Programs

Dedicated to getting people’s lives back on track, Five Keys Schools and Programs and its more than 790 dedicated employees serve more than 25,000 individuals each year throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and nine counties throughout the state of California. Five Keys was founded in 2003 by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department as the first accredited charter high school in the nation to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails. Today, its efforts have grown exponentially. The organization interrupts the cycles of homelessness, substance abuse, violence, illiteracy and incarceration through our 80 community learning centers, transitional housing shelters, career centers, and community-based workforce networks by investing in their humanity so that they can be self-determined to change their lives. Five Keys also hires people directly into our transitional employment positions for formerly incarcerated individuals and people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness, while also employing over 300 formerly incarcerated individuals in full-time, benefited positions. www.fivekeys.org.

About the Santa Rita Jail

Located in Dublin, CA,  the jail holds about 4,000 inmates housed in one of eighteen modern housing units. It is considered a "mega-jail" and ranks as the third largest facility in California and the fifth largest in the nation. Santa Rita is accredited by the American Correctional Association, thus making it the only facility in California holding this prestigious award. It is recognized as one of the most technologically innovative jails in the world. A robotic system speeds delivery of laundry supplies and food to all areas of the 113-acre campus. State-of-the-art criminal justice systems serve the internal operation, while the largest rooftop solar power system converts enough electricity to power nearly one-half of the facility's electrical needs during daylight hours. Sheriff Ahern's philosophy of cost-effective delivery of services is reflected in the private sector partnerships that support the jail's operation. A modem cook-chill food service operation produces 12,000 economical meals per day. On site medical and mental health services save money while reducing the patient load at county medical facilities. Throughout its history, the Santa Rita Jail Facility has served the criminal justice system and contributed to the safety of the citizens of the County of Alameda by providing a safe, secure, and humane environment for inmates and staff.

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First Responders Change Destiny: Five Keys rescues young woman in crisis

My journey to get where I am now couldn’t have been possible without having Five Keys support. I thought I was never going to experience what it was like to walk the stage, to be able to tell my family and friends that I graduated from high school.
— Destiny Mcghee, high school graduate

Destiny Mcghee, a 2019 Five Keys graduate, works on the front line of an emergency response firm dispatching help to the elderly in crisis.

In many ways, Five Keys Schools and Programs was the lifeline that saved her from becoming a statistic. In high school, she repeatedly was told by teachers and administrators to forget about graduating. They told her she did not have the smarts to make it, so she might as well just drop out.

That is what she did.   

“I was told from previous schools that I wouldn’t make it, that I was just going to be a high school dropout,” said the Sylmar, CA resident. “Or they’d say that with my grades, I probably won’t get far in life.”

Over the course of the next decade, she internalized their prophesy and lived up to her teacher’s expectations.

“Of course, that made me feel so discouraged, so I gave up,” says Mcghee. When I was 18, I gave up on everything and got so tired of trying that I just moved to Vegas and got away from my problems.”

The oldest of eight, Mcghee started high school in Lancaster, California with great promise.

“When I first started ninth grade I did amazing and I was so excited to be in high school around my friends and learning so much,” she remembers.

But after her freshman year, her mother sent her to live with a relative across the country to Missouri. When she returned to California, Mcghee’s mom told her daughter she would need to home school.

As the oldest, the responsibility of childcare for her siblings, and educating them fell into her lap because her mother was working 24/7.

“I had no help,” says Mcghee. “I was depressed because I didn’t understand anything and finally convinced my mom to let me go to the public high school in 12th grade.”

That is where any hope for high school graduation spiraled out of control. After one semester she was told her home school transcripts did not meet their requirements and she would have to start high school all over.

“I was so broken,” she says. “That’s when I failed.”

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Finding Destiny: “You just can’t give up on yourself.”

Fast forward and after living in Vegas for more than five years, Mcghee returned to California to live with her aunt, who just happened to work at Five Keys.

That was the start of her journey.

Before long, Mcghee was enrolled in Five Keys and graduated at 24 with her high school diploma.

She attributes that success to her teacher, LaQuette Milner, or “Mrs. LaQuette” as she calls her.

“She was the most patient teacher I had ever come across, helpful, and wanted everyone in her class to do well,” says Mcghee. “I will never forget Five Keys.”

“I really wish I had something like this when I was younger but very happy I was able to go back and do better for myself,” says Mcghee.  “I’m so grateful for the experience. “

Last year, she graduated surrounded by her friends and family.

“I was so proud to finally graduate because I was the only kid out of all of my mom’s children that didn’t graduate from high school yet and the oldest,” she says. “I tell everyone about my story and how this school really makes sure their students succeed. You just cannot give up on yourself, you must keep striving and working hard for a better future for yourself. No one can do it for you.”

From Private School to the Prison System: Teacher committed to game-changing education for incarcerated students

Through the small successes, our students began to feel what it’s like to achieve and embrace their personal strengths, gifts and abilities
— Kris Davison, Five Keys teacher
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For years, Kris Davison served as Director of Academic support for a private school in Santa Rosa, CA. Seeking something new — and a little more socially responsive to racial disparities and opportunities for all people — she switched to prison education, becoming a high school teacher with Five Keys Schools and Programs at the Sonoma County jails. 

“I was dissatisfied with what I considered a lack of equity and social justice for struggling and atypical students schoolwide,” says Davison, who launched a search for an educational organization that shared her core values. “I found Five Keys!”

"It’s been over a year since she resigned from her previous position and navigated thetransition, and the prison hallways, determined to find a unique way to help educatepeople in the prison system and put into action her belief that education is a gateway tosocial and economic mobility. 

“I get to go to work every day and make a positive difference,” she says. “I get to help each individual I meet, see their personal gifts and areas of needed growth with no judgement. We celebrate successes and work together for improvement.”

What she has found at Five Keys are a group of students highly motivated to surmount obstacles to further their education. During the last year, she has worked with more than 200 incarcerated students who have gaps in their schooling and who may one day be back out in the world. 

“I have noticed that most (of the students) in no way lack ability,” she says. “They lack academic confidence, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Like most of us, they have experienced personal failure and disappointment — but in the extreme. 

“Part of our responsibility as Five Keys teachers, is to help students create a better future for themselves and their families.  We facilitate both hope and the knowledge that as they learn, they can do ‘better,” she says.

Davison says she has witnessed many of her students who have been released from custody make a beeline to continue their education with Five Keys through the community sites. Many have landed jobs. 

“They have discovered that they are capable and deserving of a better life,” she says. “To me, that is success!”

Installing hope and a new future

“Through the small successes, our students began to feel what it's like to achieve and embrace their personal strengths, gifts and abilities,” says Davison. “Through this growth, most students begin to have greater self-esteem.  As self-esteem increases, they make better choices, they can achieve more, and life is better. Isn't that what we want for each other as human beings?” 

To Davison, her life experience as wife, mom of five and grandma of nine is surprisinglyrelevant, teaching in prison. A first-generation college graduate, Davison was also thefirst female in her family to graduate high school. She has a bachelor’s degree in specialeducation and a master’s in education, with a special certification in autism." 

During the last five months, the COVID-19 pandemic has made teaching at the jails very challenging because of the quarantine. For one thing, the jails do not offer access to Internet and so unlike traditional high schools, they could not shift their curriculums online.  

“We met with the teachers and coordinators at the facilities — everyone we could — to try to brainstorm how are we going to do this when both the teachers are sheltering in place and the students are on lockdown?” she says.

“Covid has changed many things in our world,” she says. “What hasn't changed is our desire at Five Keys to facilitate learning and growth.”

At the jail in Sonoma County, Davison and the teaching team have continued to work with students (albeit with distance). With no access to the Internet, Zoom face-to-face meetings are not an option, but they still communicate “via good old-fashioned letters.”

“We write and send work into the jail for each student regularly,” she says. “Although this type of correspondence takes more time, we are all developing additional life skills.  We are learning to communicate more clearly. We are learning patience; we are better understanding the value of human connection. These are unintended consequences of the current challenges and I am so grateful for this opportunity! As we move forward, our hope is to safely begin meeting with students (through visiting glass) until we are again able to meet in person.”

Davison is passionately committed to the crucial role education can play in changing lives for people in jail. 

“What has become even more obvious to me while working at Five Keys is that human beings cannot DO better until they KNOW better,” she says. “If a person (through whatever background and circumstances they have come from) has not learned empathy, compassion or strategies and soft skills for life success, they are absolutely not able to fit into societal ‘norms.’’

“We expect that everyone around us has had the rights and privileges that we were afforded; things like a high school education, three meals a day, a supportive home, loving parents, etc.). The numbers do not lie. Many incarcerated students have not completed high school. They lack the basic knowledge or the diploma that will allow them to have meaningful employment. It is no wonder that the loss of hope has pushed them to a different path, one of self-destruction,” she adds.

At Five Keys, she says she and other teachers and staff are committed to helping each student they serve see their own greatness.  

“We work to help them become reflective practitioners and scholars,” she says. 

Statistics underscore the importance of what Davison and Five Keys are doing. Getting a high school degree reduces a person’s likelihood of re-incarceration by 43 percent, according to a report by the RAND Corporation

Davison says she has been humbled and is extremely grateful to have the opportunity to teach her students. 

“Being a teacher and a member of the Five Keys community has changed me and helped me to grow,” she says. “I, like many, was a bit apprehensive about teaching at an in-custody facility.  Worries of safety were forcibly expressed by family members and friends.

“What has happened though, is that I have learned so much through this opportunity. I have developed even more empathy for my students. My passion for social justice has only increased. Yes, I work with accused ‘criminals.’  I teach murderers, rapists, thieves, etc., and they know me by name and ask me for help. They allow me to see them and be a part of their lives at their lowest and perhaps most vulnerable. I don't live in fear, I live in gratitude for this opportunity,” she says.

Lessons learned on the frontlines: “My vocation is to facilitate learning; I am no longer burdened to judge.” 

Teacher provides care, support and education to inmates and upon reentry

Enrolling in school gives our students the opportunity to focus on something productive and positive, to keep their minds and hearts occupied with something that gives them a sense of hope and personal accomplishment. Over and over I’ve seen these incredible shifts in attitude.
 
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Growing up in Santa Rosa, CA, Rose Kleiner had a challenging time in high school and for numerous reasons, wasn’t on track to graduate. At 17, she moved to San Francisco and completed her high school education through an independent study program and then through attending an alternative school. 

Grateful for the people and opportunities that shepherded her through that time in her life, Kleiner said her hope was that in some way she could reach back and help others dealing with similar struggles to push others to challenge their boundaries and struggles and pursue their own educational success. 

That’s exactly what she has been doing for the last almost five years as a teacher for Five Keys Schools and Programs at the San Francisco County Jail #4 and the Learning Center in the Adult Probation Department, both located at 850 Bryant, San Francisco. Since 2016 she has taught hundreds of inmates and community members seeking to earn their high school degree.

“One thing I really enjoy about teaching at Five Keys is you get to see all kinds of successes,” says Kleiner, 34. “Watching my literacy students making huge strides in their reading skills or my ESL students improve their English is so awesome, and you can see how it immediately changes their lives for the better. High fiving a student when they pass their final GED test, handing a student their diploma, or helping a graduate enroll in CCSF literally never gets old.”

She says one of her most gratifying moments as a Five Keys teacher has been when the students she worked with in custody show up at the community site where she teaches. Carrying the plastic bag with their belongings after being released from incarceration, they have told her they wanted to continue their education. 

“Being able to provide that sense of continuity and support during the incredibly challenging period of reentry is such an honor and a joy,” she says.

After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University and a Master’s in the same subject from the University of Colorado Boulder, she became an English teacher and worked for two years at Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco. 

“I had gone to graduate school with the intention of completing a PhD in literature and I ended up getting a funding package that included a teaching assignment,” she says. “It turned out that academia wasn’t for me and I left with a Master’s degree, but I realized I loved teaching adults. A friend of mine was working for Five Keys and suggested that I apply, and here we are.” 

Thanks to the creativity of Kleiner and the teachers and staff at Five Keys Schools and Programs and local Sherriff’s departments, they have not let the COVID-19 pandemic stop them from educating and serving up their mission. 

There is no stopping Five Keys Now “The pandemic has been so tough on everyone — students and teachers, incarcerated and in the community,” she says. “People are really struggling to fulfill their basic needs, which means education can move to the back burner. Many of our students are still working on their technology skills, which can make distance learning an extra challenge. And it is just hard for everyone not to have that face-to-face interaction and relationship building component, especially in custody where communication options are very limited.”

But, they have been able to continue serving students both in the community and in custody during shelter-in-place with online learning, mailing/dropping off work, phone calls, and just generally getting creative.

“I know that it’s meant a lot to our students to have this tie to normalcy and something positive to focus their energy on,” she says. “For my incarcerated students especially, just knowing that Five Keys is still there, still caring for them and still working for them, has helped them stay grounded and positive during an extraordinarily difficult time.”

Education is critical for the incarcerated“Being in jail is just such a difficult time — the worst combination of boring and stressful,” says Kleiner. ‘People are separated from their families and unsure of what their futures hold. Enrolling in school gives our students the opportunity to focus on something productive and positive, to keep their minds and hearts occupied with something that gives them a sense of hope and personal accomplishment. Over and over I have seen these incredible shifts in attitude. Watching our students move from a sometimes really negative place to a mindset of goal setting, feeding their intellectual curiosity, and really building their practical skills never stops amazing me.”As a Five Keys teacher, Kleiner has learned that the human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to us. “I think teaching at Five Keys has made me more patient and empathetic,” she says. “It’s also just brought so much joy into my life. It’s such a privilege to get to form these relationships with my students, to really get to know them as people and to feel like a positive force in their lives.”Along the way, Kleiner, who lives with her husband and cats, says she’s learned a lot of lessons from her teaching experience at Five Keys. “I think I’ve learned how to meet people where they are with warmth and non-judgment,” she says. “I’ve learned that it’s essential to really take time to listen and form a relationship with every single individual student, no matter what. And I’ve learned that it’s my job as a teacher to never stop learning how to be better!”

Five Keys Helps Former Inmate Rebuild Her Life

Shonta Montgomery is now 36, and she has spent much of her life living in Watts where gun shots, police sirens and fireworks ring out and senseless killings and gangs reign. Since she was released after serving six-and-a-half years in prison with no money and no place to live, she’s fought her way on the streets, trying to stay out of the way of gangs and drug peddlers who mark their turf along the streets and parking lots of the South Los Angeles neighborhood. 

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Fighting addiction, unemployment and homelessness, Montgomery, who grew up one of 12 kids, says she was ill-equipped to embrace life after prison. Though she resolved to get her life back, incarceration stripped her of her identity and a lack of a high school education daunted her attempts to get a job and get back on track.

Until, she says, a social worker connected her with SHIELDS for Families, a non-profit in South Central Los Angeles, that offers people like Montgomery a family-centered approach to addiction treatment and recovery….a model that has success rates over three times the national average for substance use disorder treatment. Through SHIELDS, she was introduced to Five Keys Schools and Programs, where she has been studying for her high school diploma. 

“I didn’t want to live on the streets, and I didn’t want to die,” says Montgomery, who also has recently been reunited with her 15-year-old son. “I begged them to help me to get off the streets and go to school.” 

Montgomery’s experience speaks volumes about the thousands of students who have been served by Five Keys, since it was founded in 2003 by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department as the first accredited charter high school in the nation to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails. Teachers, staff, and supporters are committed to the belief that pursuing higher education is an excellent way for ex-offenders to re-enter their communities and live productive, fulfilling lives. 

Montgomery traces her journey from prison to recovery to SHEILDS and Five Keys. 

Today she lives in a one-bedroom apartment and is working hard on her schoolwork and rebuilding her relationship with her family, and especially her teenage son. She is also taking socially distanced Salsa dancing in her backyard. 

She knows that education is especially critical for her efforts to seek employment, beat her prison rap and leave Valley State Prison, in Chowchilla far behind her. She wants to become a physical therapist.

“I’m really working on rebuilding all my relationships and my life,” she says. “I don’t want to ever go back to the life of popping pills and addiction. I want to be somebody special. You know I started studying art history. My teacher asked me to do an essay project on it and I love it. It’s been hard, but I’ve learned not to give up, no matter what you lose, no matter how dark a place you’ve been, don’t give up!”

Teacher inspired to educate prisoners to give them — and their communities — a shot at a better future

“He shared with the class that it was the greatest accomplishment of his life.”
Pictured left to right: Gayle, Woody, Judy, and Oprah

Pictured left to right: Gayle, Woody, Judy, and Oprah

Over the years, Judy Square has been blessed to spend time teaching in the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Alameda County, CA. Some of her most inspiring conversations have occurred in those rooms. In her conversations with incarcerated individuals, a common thread is that access to adult education offers them a chance to process their past and envision a new future. 

“Many students have told me that no one ever believed in them before, or thought they were smart,” says the San Leandro resident.  But working with Five Keys, they feel someone finally believes in them and is rooting for them.”

During the last 17 years she has taught at the now-closed North County Jail in Oakland and Santa Rita jail, one of the largest jails in the United States. Square says her favorite students to teach are inmates. For 13 years she worked at the jail through the Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program and the last four through Five Keys.

“I've had a few students who have worked 8-10 hours a day on their schoolwork in their cramped cells, no desk, with stubs of pencils, sometimes with no erasers, pushing through all the obstacles and discomforts to earn their diploma,” she says.  

Of the about 200 students she has taught through Five Keys, one student, Nathan, especially stands out. 

“When I informed him that he earned his High School Equivalency Diploma, he jumped out of his seat and pounded the wall in celebration,” she says. “A deputy rushed in to see what was happening and I had to explain that everything was OK, and that Nathan was simply happy. Then the deputy left, and Nathan shed some tears in full view of his classmates even though that is usually avoided at all costs in jail culture. He shared with the class that it was the greatest accomplishment of his life.” 

For Square, teaching through Five Keys seems to be a natural extension of the ministry she shares with her husband Woody, who is pastor  and children, youth, and family minister at San Leandro Church of Christ.  The couple, who are parents of two young adults, spent six years in Papua New Guinea helping run a church leader training school.

When the pandemic hit the nation in March, Square and her teacher peers and principal were forced to rethink how they would provide service. The team quickly pivoted to salvage education for their students. 

Before the summer break, Square and other teachers typed letters every week, personalizing them for each student and sending them packets of educational materials to work on. An Inmate Services Deputy acted as a courier. He would deliver the letters and packets and bring back completed ones for Square and her fellow teachers to grade and record on the student's record. They also included feedback forms with their letters so the students could write back with questions or updates. 

“However, once things shut down, many students fell off the wagon and stopped completing schoolwork,” she says. “Because all of our students are high school dropouts and have struggled with their educational journey in the past, they really need the structure of classes and face-to-face interaction with teachers to keep them progressing.”

Teaching in COVID-19 has taught Square and other teachers how important the Five Keys mission is and vital to the future of inmates. 

Armed with a “yes-we-can-do-this,” they are planning to be back better than ever in August.  They will continue to deliver the packets of educational materials and keep the education going. 

“I can't wait until I can go back and work with my students in person,” says Square.

 Sidebar 

A Walk in the Woods with Oprah

It’s not every day that campers at the Yosemite National Park run into talk show queen Oprah Winfrey on the trail.

But that’s what happened to Five Keys teacher, Judy Square, and her husband Woody, a minister, about 10 years ago, when they were on a visit to Yosemite.

The seasoned campers bumped into Oprah and her best friend Gayle King when the duo had hitched a pop-up camper to a Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid and hit the road to do a story about Shelton Johnson, a black park ranger who complained that few African-Americans were campers.

Not so, Oprah discovered. Oprah and Gayle ran into the Squares at their first stop in Yosemite and thought it would be fun to fly them out two weeks later to be in the audience when Oprah taped the Yosemite episode. At the end of the show, Oprah called them up on stage and surprised them with the keys to both her camper and the SUV that was used to pull it! Both vehicles were shipped from Chicago to San Leandro, and Judy and Woody still use the camper about three times a year and enjoy riding around town in their "Oprahmobile."

Five Keys Opens a Window of Opportunity for Mom, Son and Extended Family

Leticia Ramirez knows firsthand the meaning behind the expression, “when one door closes, a window opens.”  

About three years ago, Ramirez had just lost her more than decades-long job when her employer retired. She was feeling afraid and discouraged when she waited in line at the unemployment office. 

But that is when the North Hollywood, CA mom was introduced to Five Keys Schools and Programs and the idea that she could transform the loss into an opportunity to return to school and get her long-delayed high school diploma.

“Five Keys has helped me and my family so much,” says Ramirez. “If it weren’t for them I would not be planning to go beyond my high school diploma.”

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This summer, the 50-year-old received her high school diploma (albeit in the mail and is looking for the COVID-postponed ceremony later this summer). Working full-time at a podiatrist’s office, it took her three years of part-time study. 

Two years ago, her son earned his GED through Five Keys and her nephew and his wife are currently enrolled in the Five Keys distance learning program. 

Now, she is poised to enroll in college this fall. 

“It took about three years to finish, because I only went once a week and math was very hard for me,” she says. “But my teachers, Karen Henderson, and Nicole Sanfilippo, were extremely supportive. I would have not been able to accomplish my goal if it had not been for the two them. They were very patient and gave me all the resources available to complete each course.”

She also has become a champion of Five Keys and is encouraging family and friends to take the opportunity during these times of social distancing to make time for education. 

“I am the first of my siblings to get a high school diploma and I am going to do all I can to encourage all my family and friends to pursue their education,” she says. “We are in very uncertain times now. Education plays a big part in helping our country to continue being the greatest country in the world. “

Her advice for those considering attending Five Keys: “Really value and appreciate the opportunity it gives you and give it your best,” says Ramirez. “Attend class as often as possible. Do not give up when things get rough. Communicate with your teachers. They are great and they will do all they can to help you.”

Back to the Future: Former teen mom heads to high school — three kids and almost 30 years later

Rosemary Gallegos Martinez was 14 when she had her first son, Luis. Two years later, her second son, Daniel, was born. At the time, the Mission Hills, Los Angeles-area resident struggled to juggle high school with two jobs. She and her then boyfriend, now husband, Juan, were determined to be self-sufficient, to support themselves independently, not relying on welfare or their family members to care for their young family. Her husband also worked as many jobs as he could to support themselves and their two sons.

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Times were tough and unfortunately, juggling two part-time jobs, ⁠— at a clothing store and a warehouse  ⁠— and a new baby, Rosemary had to let something go: She ended up dropping out of high school.

Fast forward 27 years. This June, Rosemary, and her husband who have been together for almost three decades, celebrated the high school graduation of their youngest child, Alexander, 17, from John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Los Angeles.

At the same time, Rosemary, 41, is working her own way through high school at Five Keys Pacoima, located in the northern San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. A full-time student, currently in the unusual year of the COVID pandemic, Rosemary attends classes remotely through the independent study program and Zoom. She is also taking care of her mother who is undergoing cancer treatment.

Rosemary’s goal: to become a registered nurse. She plans to keep up the educational momentum and is exploring nursing school options for when she graduates high school.

“It was hard raising a child and also still being a child,” says Rosemary. “I tried to go to school at first, but it just didn’t work out for me. I went to work part-time at a clothing store and a few warehouses to support my son. 

“We didn’t want to have to raise our children in our families’ homes, it just felt like it was more complicated so we both worked and cared for our kids. So, going to school was not really an option even though I did try to go back a couple times, but it just became too much,” she adds.

Thanks to Five Keys and her own determination and hard work, the dream Rosemary has longed for since was a young teenager is coming to fruition. She is especially grateful to teachers like “Ms. Nicole,” who are walking the journey at her side cheering her along. 

“Ms. Nicole has shown me that I can do it,” says Rosemary. “Five Keys has made education and learning fun for me. If you do not understand something, all the teachers are there to help you.” 

Most significantly, she says the teachers at Five Keys and her determination to graduate from high school, even if she had to wait until her three sons got their diplomas and have set their own course, have bolstered her confidence. 

Ten years from now she hopes to have graduated from the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA with a nursing degree and working for the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles. 

“Going back to high school has given me the ability to dream and see that I will soon be able to live out my wish to be a nurse,” says Rosemary.

The Domino Effect: How Five Keys and Other Programs like Five Keys Inspire Generational Change

As a young child, Romina Bonilla, along with her parents and four sisters immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico to South Central, Los Angeles in 1989.

It did not go unnoticed to Romina’s parents that education was a lifeline in underserved communities of color. Her parents took advantage of the ESL courses offered locally. They were both able to obtain their GEDs that essentially forged a new path for her parents and launched the five sisters on their own successful career paths.

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Education had a domino effect on Romina’s family. Once their parents made the first move, there was a chain reaction with her sisters.

Today, inspired by her parents’ resilience and grit — and the educational opportunities that turned their American Dream into a reality, Romina is an ESL teacher for Five Keys. Her oldest sister attended UCLA’s medical school and is an anesthesiologist. Another sister is an electrical engineer, another a social worker, and her youngest sister just graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA.

“Programs like Five Keys give people a second chance at reaching hopes and dreams they might not have been able to reach at a younger age due to life circumstances,” says the 34-year-old mother of two young children. She is married to Jose Sanchez, who is also an employee at Five Keys. They live in Downey, CA. Romina currently teaches at Five Keys’ Weber Community Center in South Los Angeles, while her husband works as an Assessment and Technology Specialist out of Five Keys’ main office in Boyle Heights.

After obtaining his GED, Romina’s father, Vincente Bonilla, opened a TV repair business. After hard times, he closed his business but still remains employed full time as a technician. Her mother, Araceli Gorostieta, chose to stay at home to raise her five daughters but also became an active volunteer at the Hope Street Margolis Family Center, a health, education and recreation program of Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center. It has been recognized as a national model for integrating healthcare within its community of downtown Los Angeles. At Hope Street, her mom immersed herself with parenting courses, eventually becoming a parent leader and mentor.

Romina paid close attention to her mother’s role modeling. The organization also caught a young Romina’s attention because she realized she wanted to give back to her community as she saw Hope Street’s mission guided her mom to do. This drew her closer to Five Keys and how it partners with the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System, El Nido Family Centers, and the WorkSource Centers, all in Los Angeles County, to help students with their goals.

 “Five Keys looks at students in a more holistic manner than your traditional school setting. We see people as wholes and understand that you cannot instill true intrinsic change by simply giving students packets of homework to complete and get graded on. You have to provide them with meaningful educational experiences that spark them with moments of reflection and eventually personal growth,” said Romina.

What she especially loves about teaching at Five Keys is the strong relationships teachers build with students and connecting them to opportunities they might not otherwise know exist during school and even after graduation. From helping students apply to college, to connecting them with scholarship opportunities, to offering the welding training program at Weber Community Center which serves as a great start to a potential new career path for students, she says.

Romina, who graduated from California State University LA, worked for the adult division of education for the Los Angeles Unified School District as an ESL teacher in 2009. She joined Five Keys in 2012 and taught ESL at Pitchess Detention Center.

“My experiences teaching in-custody molded me into a better teacher,” she says. “Learning about restorative justice taught me about empathy. I really think that before I began working here, I only knew what sympathizing is. But after engaging and continuously learning at Five Keys and having other interactions with the diverse student and teacher population I work with, I truly began to understand and appreciate other people's feelings and experiences.”

She adds: “I love what I do because I see the effect we have on students who are used to people merely sympathizing with them and walking away instead of empathizing and actually lending them a hand up,” she says. “This is what Five Keys does and this is what Hope Street did for my family. Without this support I have no idea where my family and I would be. We will carry our experiences with us in our hearts with lots of gratitude for the rest of our lives.”

Her advice for people considering becoming students at Five Keys?

“Just do it! Five Keys is a door. All we need from students is to open it and our teachers will guide you with the rest! Who knows, maybe making this move will be the domino effect to a better future for their family and future generations to come.”

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