NORWICH – For the last five years, Timothy Wennrich has helped more than 80 percent of his students get their high school diploma before being released from the Chenango County Correctional Facility.

According to New York State law, all people under the age of 21 are entitled to a high school level education – even those serving time in jails, prisons, or detention centers.

Each weekday, Wennrich meets with a juvenile and adult class for about two and a half hours each, assigning reading lessons, homework assignments, essays and exams.

“We are just like any other school. We have to comply with all state mandates including No Child Left Behind. If our students don’t perform well we face funding cuts,” said Wennrich.

Wennrich is technically an employee of the Norwich School District and the program’s annual operating budget of $115,000 is paid for by area schools.

“If a student in a district is incarcerated, then New York State says that distinct has to pay for his education while they’re doing their time,” he explained.

Chenango County Sheriff Ernest R. Cutting said the mandated program offers trouble youths and young adults an opportunity to better their lives once released.

“How do you change people’s lives if they don’t have an education? It eliminates their employment potential. Once you open the doors for people, they may start to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Cutting.

The sheriff openly admits that not everyone benefits from the program, acknowledging some inmates don’t take the opportunity to better themselves.

“There are always going to be those people whose refuse to change their habits and odds are they’ll be back here. But they aren’t everyone. If we can help some of them recover, teach them to become a little more self-sustaining when they get out, then there’s a better chance they won’t be committing more crimes or returning to incarceration, which just adds more burden to the community,” said Cutting

In addition to teaching the state mandated course for students, the City Norwich School District and the Sheriff’s Office have coordinated several other lifestyle educational courses, including an adult GED program, a transition program and an Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) safety course for qualifying inmates.

The Inmate Transition Program helps prepare inmates with basic life skills as they head back into the community.