JAG program needs to grow

When I hear of JAG, I think first of the Judge Advocate General, the chief legal officer of a branch of the U.S. armed forces. Then I think of “JAG,” the popular TV show that ran for 10 years until 2005.

Now JAG has a new meaning.

When Gov. Brian Sandoval mentioned JAG in his State of the State speech, I had never heard of the latest JAG – Jobs for America’s Graduates. I didn’t know Nevada had a pilot program this school year to increase graduation and decrease the dropout rate. I was unaware JAG has been in seven Nevada high schools, including four in Clark County.

As I often say, I learn something new every day.

Sandoval has proposed putting $1.5 million into the program over the next two budget years. With the help of private industry and federal money, he hopes that would pay for one career specialist each in 50 additional high schools by 2014. His goal is to have nearly 2,000 students included in the program, which now includes 200 by the 2014-15 school year.

At his speech, one JAG student, Dayton High School senior Joey Doyle, was showcased as someone expected to graduate because of the JAG program. Doyle smiled self-consciously in his suit, but he seemed pleased. So did his adviser, Nancy Gardner, sitting beside him.

Sandoval was introduced to JAG at the National Governors Association meeting last February when Jack Markell, the governor of Delaware, and Ken Smith, the head of JAG, pitched it to him.

“Delaware has had a tremendous amount of success, and it was very similar to models of schools that Kathleen (his wife) had started at Children’s Cabinet,” Sandoval said.

“You get at-risk kids who get with case managers who learn their interests, their strengths, their weaknesses and help them get through school. I decided it was worth a try to do a pilot in Nevada,” Sandoval said Friday.

If a wildly popular program works in other states, he asked himself, why wouldn’t he bring it to Nevada?

He obtained federal dollars to begin with and now is willing to invest state dollars to expand it.

The state’s investment will be leveraged with private and federal dollars, primarily Workforce Investment Act youth funds.

JAG began in 1979 in Delaware and has spread to 32 states. It works to transition students either from high school to college or from high school to a job. The cost per student is $1,038, according to JAG’s national website. Each career specialist works closely with 35-45 students at one school.

Sandoval has met some of the JAG students. One was a young woman living on her own and working a swing shift. Now she is in JAG and doing well in school. Students told him they went from being likely dropouts to wanting to be veterinarians and interpreters. A girl with an infant is still in school with JAG.

One young man Sandoval met at Dayton said the program makes him feel special. “The specialists pay attention to us,” Sandoval recalling him saying.

The Republican governor gave credit to school superintendents, including Dwight Jones, Heath Morrison and Pedro Martinez, for welcoming JAG to their schools. He was unaware of any controversy surrounding JAG.

According to JAG’s national website, its program for the class of 2011 reached a graduation rate of 94 percent with 53 percent getting jobs. Another 44 percent enrolled in higher education.

Nevada’s high school graduation rate is the lowest in the nation, hovering below 60 percent. That makes Nevada a national embarrassment.

If it works, let’s do it.

Nevada can’t do nothing, unless our state wants to be a role model for dropouts.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison