"The practical guide resource my friends Penny and Cindy are generously sharing was developed by two smart and dedicated correctional educators who know what they are talking about!"
John P. Linton
(Retired) Director of Correctional Education
U.S. Department of Education
I have known Cindy Borden and Penny Richardson for more than a decade. I met Penny for the first time when she interviewed for a vocational instructor position on the opening of Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.
Penny’s immediate impression showcased her professionalism, knowledge, and skills, setting her apart from the other applicants. I met Cindy after she accepted an offer to develop and deliver an unprecedented evening education program at Idaho State Correctional Institution using community volunteers. The challenges each of these competent and dedicated women faced and overcame subsequent to their respective beginnings in the field of correctional education turned them into exemplary practitioners in this unique and specialized career.
On hearing of their desire to step forward into the consulting arena I am only too pleased to have been asked to address in print how their individual strengths compliment each other’s when they work together as Northstar Correctional Education Services.
While I held the position of Bureau Chief of Education with the Idaho Department of Correction, Cindy and Penny completed the requirements for advanced educational degrees and credentials. Cindy earned her principal license and Penny earned a Masters Degree in Education Technology. With their educational preparation came opportunities for them to promote to administrative positions. When they left the Robert Janss School (the accredited school operated within the correctional institutions operated by Idaho Department of Correction), each held the position of Education Program Manager, the second highest step in the hierarchy of Robert Janss School.
Cindy acquired first-hand knowledge of the national issues facing the field of correctional education by serving as secretary and keeping minutes for bi-annual meetings of the Council of State Directors of Correctional Education while I served as President. These issues include the assessment of offender risk and need in determining placement in education programs, collaboration of diverse partners in offender reentry, the utilization of technology in the institutional classroom, and the identification of performance measures for accountability and the evaluation of education services.
Before leaving Robert Janss School, Cindy and Penny demonstrated effective teamwork and complimentary skills when assigned significant tasks addressing the aforementioned emerging trends. Jointly, they implemented statewide educational technology while managing a $250,000 grant awarded by the J. A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation to Robert Janss School. They resumed educational services at community-, minimum-, and maximum-security prisons in Idaho, made possible by the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. Cindy brought creativity and determination to these projects; Penny contributed technological polish and attention to detail.
Together, they achieved far more than either would have accomplished independently. Their complementary skills and styles will doubtless serve them—and their customers—well in their new business. Northstar Correctional Education Services offers diverse assistance to developing correctional education systems. Its founders—Cindy Borden and Penny Richardson—have the competence and commitment necessary to assure success.
Douglas R. Gray, Principal
Principal and Superintendent
Correctional Education