Greater Bangor Law Enforcement Call For Pre-K Expansion to Reduce Dropouts, Prevent Violence

Aug 18th 2008

BANGOR, MAINE -- Bangor Police Chief Ron Gastia, Veazie Police Chief Mark Leonard and Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross hosted a special "Back to School" news conference at the Eastern Maine Community College Child Care Center today to address the issue of high school dropout rates and its connection to violent crime.

Nearly 70 percent of all inmates in our nation's prisons failed to earn a high school diploma. Research shows that high school dropouts are three and a half times more likely than graduates to be arrested and eight times more likely to be incarcerated. Nineteen of the top 25 largest cities in America graduate less than 60 percent of their students on time.

The law enforcement leaders, all members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, released a report showing that high quality pre-kindergarten is one of the best deterrents against our country's rising dropout rates, calling on Congress and the state legislature to expand and support pre-k for more children who need it.

"In the short term, we can work with older kids, but for the long term, we need to focus on young children to make real progress," Bangor Chief Ron Gastia said. "Far too often, today's dropouts are tomorrow's criminals,"

Long-term benefits of early childhood education and care include higher graduation rates, college enrollment and income levels, and lower crime rates. A study of Chicago's Child-Parent Centers, a high-quality early education program, showed that kids left out of the program were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested for a violent crime by age 18 than those who participated in the program.

"This dropout epidemic can be curbed by pre-k programs," Veazie Chief Mark Leonard said. "I'm here today with my colleagues to ask our representatives to Congress and the state legislature to fully fund early childhood education."

Long-term benefits of early childhood education and care include higher graduation rates, college enrollment and income levels, as well as significant reductions in crime. A study of Chicago's Child-Parent Centers, a high-quality early education program, showed that kids left out of the program were 70% more likely to have been arrested for a violent crime by age 18 than those who participated in the program.

"If we can get our at risk kids quality pre-kindergarten now, then, in a few years, they'll be marking the passage of time with credit hours toward graduation rather than time served towards a sentence in a place like the Penobscot County Jail," Ross said.

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