History

The San Francisco Sheriff's Department has been a bold leader in innovative educational, vocational and drug treatment programs for prisoners for several decades. Its Learning Center has offered programs of literacy, GED attainment, Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language and Computer Literacy. These services were evaluated in the "Report of the Learning, Mediation, and Assessment Project," (2002) and found to reduce recidivism.

In an effort to both increase educational options that focus on restorative justice and to offer a path for obtaining a high school diploma, Sheriff Michael Hennessey and the Charter School Task Force co–founded the Five Keys Charter School (FKCS). FKCS was sponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District in May of 2003 for a term of three years and opened its doors in September 2003 to over 200 inmates in the San Francisco County Jail FKCS is now petitioning the District to open two additional post–release sites.

FKCS is the nation's first charter school for adults inside a county jail. It operates within the Sheriff's Department at two jails and one post–release site. FKCS students (both men and women) work toward earning high school diplomas while serving time, awaiting trial or upon release from custody.

As the Sheriff's Department's first attempt to give inmates a structured path to a high school diploma, FKCS offers a standards–based curriculum of the core subjects: Language Arts, Math, Social Science, and Science, workplace readiness training, and basic technology training. In addition to academic courses, many FKCS students receive drug treatment and or violence prevention counseling designed to help them stay out of jail once they leave.

In the first two months of FKCS' operation, academic levels of students increased by an average of 1.7 grades. Currently, students who are enrolled in the school for at least a month increase their academic levels by approximately 2.1 grades. The school issues 10–12 high school diplomas each year with a goal of 20 a year by 2011. It is currently operating at its maximum capacity of 250 students and has a wait list of another 30 students who are eligible to enroll.