Judge Jimmie M. Edwards is a ubiquitous presence these days. The 22nd Circuit Court judge and founder of Innovative Concept Academy is suddenly everywhere.
This Sunday, May 18, Judge Edwards will be honorary chair for the 2014 Annual May Day Parade, moving down Market Street in downtown St. Louis starting at 1 p.m.
That appearance will culminate a veritable parade of ceremonial recognitions of his advocacy for youth who have been expelled or proven to be disruptive in classrooms.
On May 1, he received the 2014 Distinguished Lawyer Award from the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.
On Friday, May 16, Eden Theological Seminary presented him with an honorary doctor of laws degree.
And on Saturday, May 17, he will serve as 2014 commencement speaker for his undergraduate alma mater, Saint Louis University, and receive its honorary doctorate of laws degree.
The American talked to Judge Edwards about what he plans to say to SLU graduates, his progress at implementing the Innovative Concept model and his ever-elusive quest for a federal judgeship.
The American: What do you plan to say at SLU’s commencement?
Judge Jimmie M. Edwards: I’ll acknowledge what a wonderful education they have received at Saint Louis University and focus on their Jesuit compassion and understanding for persons less fortunate than them.
The American: Will you talk about the recent hate speech crimes at SLU and the Black Student Alliance’s demands to the administration?
Judge Edwards: I don’t intend to. I have so much confidence in (Interim SLU President) Bill Kaufmann’s ability to eradicate that kind of behavior on our campus. I trust those issues will be addressed by the administration effectively and very quickly.
The American: Have you been to Innovative Concept Academy lately?
Judge Edwards: I visit every day, sometimes two or three times a day. The school is doing wonderful. The children are succeeding, accomplishing, dreaming, to a great extent not recidivating. I feel good at the end of our fifth year.
The American: Have you seen any students from the school back in court?
Judge Edwards: Yes, when children act out I will require a parent and the child to return to court and visit with me at court, where I address the issues immediately. I’ve not been required to sentence a child to an institution who was or is a student at our school.
The American: It’s often said Innovative Concept Academy is a unique intervention of a court into a public school system. Have you been invited to present your model in other places?
Judge Edwards: Yes, I have been invited to maybe 15 states to visit schools, judges and superintendents. I’m going to deliver a message tomorrow (Tuesday) in Philadelphia and next month in Vancouver.
The American: What will you be saying in Philadelphia and Vancouver?
Judge Edwards: In Philadelphia, I have been asked to deal with the reinvention of older communities and to talk about education in the context of a unique community school.
Looking all over the country at the school-to-prison pipeline, primarily public schools are not as patient as they once were. Often behaviors that were once addressed at school or in the home are now being criminalized. Students are being sent to juvenile court and sent to a juvenile detention facility.
To me, it does not make sense. In every single state of America, if a child is admitted to a juvenile detention facility, irrespective of the offense for which he was adjudicated, unless the child was certified to stand trial as an adult that child will return to the community at a certain age. In Missouri, it’s 18 years of age. The statute requires that they be released.
So how do you want that child back in our neighborhood? As a more sophisticated criminal? Or do we want that child back in our community better-educated in what it means to be a citizen and lawfully employed?
Learning continues, whether a child is in a classroom or a jail cell. It makes more sense to use bad behavior to teach a kid about victimization and criminality, and move away from this generational cycle of being undereducated or not being educated at all.
Nearly 3,000 children have come through our academy who otherwise would have dropped out and been walking our streets. That’s wrong. Missouri is a compulsory education state. Our state is obligated to educate all children up to a certain age. When children are not educated, they can’t do anything but fail.
In Vancouver, I’ll be talking on behalf of the American Bar Association, also about keeping children in school and out of court. I’ll tell some important persons, judges and legislators in Canada that it’s important that Canada fix their juvenile problem as well.
The American: Does anyone want to hear from you closer to home? Say, in St. Louis County?
Judge Edwards: Yes, a lot of people in St. Louis County are interested, as well as in St. Charles County, Jefferson County, Green County, Springfield, Kansas City. Hopefully, we’ll see some movement. This project is not something Judge Edwards can do. I’m the recipient of the awards, but the folks who deserve it are strangers who decided it makes more sense to help children than to hurt them, and my partners at Mers Goodwill and Incarnate Word Foundation. I am the beneficiary of people with compassion and understanding who decided to act.
The American: It seems your name always comes up when there is an opening on the federal bench.
Judge Edwards: All of my life, I have wanted to be a judge, and all of my life I have wanted to be a federal judge. Hopefully, one day I will have an opportunity. But, if it doesn’t happen, I have achieved way more than I thought I would achieve as a child at Pruitt-Igoe or a young man at Vashon High School. I never dreamt I would attend a prestigious institution like Saint Louis University. If nothing else happens, the Lord truly has blessed Jimmie.
