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1. How do we know when a student is a resident of the Chesterfield Detention Home?

School counseling offices are notified within two days of a student’s entry into the detention home school. There are times when students are placed in the detention home, but do not attend school (either they refuse or they have been restricted to their room by detention staff). You will not be notified until the student attends school.

2. Once notified, what do we need to do?

• Students are to be withdrawn from the home school. They are then enrolled in our school. You will receive a request for the records we need. Please make sure to send all requested records. We are going to start sending follow up requests if we do not have all records. We need them to assure appropriate class placement, SOL testing, and special education services. It is critical that those records be sent to us as soon as is possible.
• In our request for records we also include a request for home school work. We have teachers certified in all core subjects, special education, and some electives. If a Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home School teacher wants to send work for the student to complete, that work will be given priority. Work will be sent back to the home school for grading. Students do not have access to Chromebooks here because of the security involved.
• If teachers choose not to send home school work, then our teachers will provide instruction here. Our goal is to provide the student with as many of their courses as are possible. However, due to staffing and/or safety concerns, there are classes that we cannot offer. For example,  we cannot offer CTC courses, foreign language courses, etc. If home school teachers send work, however, we will do everything in our power to help the student complete the work. Teacher-sent work trumps the work we assign here. Our goal is to have students transition smoothly back to their home school.
• Teachers cannot expect students to make up missed work as students were enrolled in a school. The student should be treated as any other transfer student upon their return.

3. What is the best way to get that information to you?

For expediency purposes, it is best to fax the records to us at 804-717-6454. If not possible, please send them to the Detention Center via the Chesterfield pony mail at the following address:
Chesterfield County Juvenile Detention Home
9600 Krause Road
Chesterfield, VA 23832

For those outside of Chesterfield County, please use U.S. mail. Teacher work can be emailed, ponied or faxed.

4. What does the school day look like at the Detention Home School?

School starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 2:45 p.m. (with a 30 minute lunch). We have a 7-period day, with classes lasting 50 to 55 minutes each. In addition to the core academic subjects, all students take Personal Finance and Economics, H/PE, Reading and Music.

5. Do any students from the Detention Center attend their home school while detained?

Some students, who are in the Post Dispositional program and have earned a certain level, may attend their home school during the day. This is a rarity but does happen on occasion.

6. Can home school teachers contact the detention home teachers?

Yes. We encourage this. Conversely, detention home teachers might contact the home school teachers if they need information or clarification. We are all in this together!

7. What if a student is taking an on-line course?

Students are able to work on-line here at the facility.

8. Can a student take continue with an AP course when in Detention?

Unfortunately, no. We do not have teachers certified as AP teachers.

9. Is G.E.D. offered at the Detention Home School?

Yes, and we can conduct official G.E.D. testing here as well.

10. Do students take SOLs while in the Detention Home?

• Yes. SOL testing is conducted at Detention. We make every effort to ensure that we test everyone eligible. If they are enrolled in an SOL class, they will take the SOL for that course. If they need retakes (i.e., if they are a term graduate or need it for a verified credit), we will retest them if enrolled during SOL test-taking time. You will receive the SOL score reports with the Educational Transfer Summary upon the student’s release.
• Some special education students achieve SOL scores that make them eligible for credit accommodations in their IEP. Please pass these scores onto your special education coordinator so that the students will have an opportunity to receive credit for their scores.

11. When a child is released from the Chesterfield Detention Home, are we notified?

• We typically do not know the release date for students ahead of time. The release is determined at a court hearing. We will not know until the morning following court that a student has been released.
• We will then forward an Educational Transfer Summary to the home school, signifying a student’s release. If a student has been with us five or more days, you will receive grades that the student earned.

12. What do we do with the grades that we receive?

• These grades must be given to the classroom teacher with the instruction that they are to be averaged in with grades already received in that class. If a student does not return to school during the school year, our Educational Transfer Summary should be kept in the student’s cumulative file, which will be the only record since teachers have no ability to record our grades.
• Most of the students who are in Detention come back with much higher grades than they left with and it doesn’t seem fair to average these grades in.
• Students are in school from 8 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. each day. There are never more than eight students in a class, allowing for a great deal of individualized attention. Students typically attend school each and every day. These grades earned are legitimate and reflect the outstanding instruction students receive while here.

13. Sometimes we send work and the student is back in school the next day. This is a lot of work. Why does this happen?

• We send the request for records when a student has been with us at least 2 days. However, we are not always aware if a student is assigned to the Home Incarceration Program (released with an ankle monitor) or if they have been released early. This doesn’t happen frequently but it does happen on occasion.
• Sometimes there is a delay getting the work to us from the home school. We recommend a teacher send the work directly to us to expedite the process. Email works great! If teachers send Edmodo or Google Classroom codes for their classes, our teachers can request to join their group and access work that way as well.

14. You send end of the year grades to us for students who are still in the Detention facility. What should we do with those grades?

• As the last school of record, you are responsible for awarding credits.
• SOL scores should also be entered. This ensures that each student has a complete transcript.

Please note that:

• Student returning from detention during school year:
  • Student is assigned to classes; home school teacher averages Detention grades in with grades already earned at home school
• Student in detention at the end of the school year:
  • If student was enrolled in home school during year, consult with assigned teachers to ascertain semester / final grades (averaged with Detention Home grades) ; counselor enters grades into Academic History with no teacher assignment
  • If students not enrolled in home school during school year, counselor inputs grades directly into Academic History with no teacher assignment; in Synergy, change focus to inactive