The purpose of a complicated bill aimed at preventing students from languishing in alternative schools became much clearer after the testimony of a former student who got stuck in one.

Jessie Camargo, now 18, was transferred to a community school two weeks before his eighth grade graduation. That summer he completed all the requirements set by his district, which included drug and alcohol counseling classes, 140 hours of community service, and an anger management class, but was not allowed to return to his regular high school. Instead, he spent 2 ½ years in the community school, he testified Wednesday at a Senate Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 744.

“The school operated on a complex track system,” he said. “Anything could hold you back, knock you down a track, and prevent you from exiting, even something as simple as not having a collared shirt. A lot of students couldn’t afford collared shirts so they received daily detention and were never eligible to exit.”

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