Temecula Program Gives Dropouts Second Chance

A record number graduated from a program in Temecula that gives dropouts a second chance at a diploma.

“Come Back Kids” graduated 170 students this year – a six-fold increase since its founding three years ago, said spokesperson Rick Peoples.

The program, which is run by the Riverside County Office of Education, has several sites, including on Winchester Road in Temecula, according to Peoples.

Students claimed their diplomas during a commencement ceremony on Monday at the Grove Community Church in Riverside.

Students from other programs, such as Court and Community, Cal-SAFE, Special Education and Independent Study, joined Come Back Kids graduates.

Most of the students in the program are self-supporting teens, some with children, some with substance-abuse problems or poor self-esteems, and some are former gang members, Peoples said.

Some students “walked away from high school oftentimes needing very little credit to graduate,” Peoples said.

Some of the students floundered in high school and simply stopped going.

“High school was about having fun for me,” said Jaime Quinonez, 19, a Murrieta resident who attended the program in Temecula. “I didn’t take it serious enough. I didn’t have the commitment. I wasn’t willing to do the work.”

He started failing classes in middle school. After dropping out of high school, he tried to make up the credits in continuation school, he said in an emailed statement.

When he failed to make up enough units to graduate, he went home with no idea what to do with his future. Then, he found out about Come Back Kids, he said.

“There was still that part of me that wanted to be someone,” he said. “It sparked something. It was hard work, but I got A’s and B’s. There was no slacking off. It ended with me graduating.”

After graduation, he plans to go to college in Texas to study music, multimedia and theology.

“There are so many opportunities now that I have an education,” he said. “My family is proud of me. I am happy for myself that I did it. It’s a good feeling, but it is good to be seen as a success through your parents’ eyes.”

Come Back Kids was made for students like Quinonez, said Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Young in a written announcement. 

“Come Back Kids the place to get off  the dropout track and get onto the graduation path,” he said. “(The program) provides a completely different learning environment than the one they failed in. It gives them a second chance to improve their learning skills and make up credits.”

Information about joining the program is available by calling 800-RCOE-CBK.