Sequel to Dead End?

When I watched this last night, I thought it was intended as a sequel to Dead End. Tommy's Gang had the same names as they did in Dead End and references were made to previously living in New York. More specifically, they stated that Tommy and his sister left New York following an ultimatum to leave or have Tommy put through reform school, events which took place at the end of Dead End.

But here's where the similarities end. In this film, Tommy's sister is named Peggy whereas she had been Drina in Dead End. Additionally, they're played by two different actresses. This could be written off as a character name change, but then what happened to Dave Connell? There was the implication at the end that the two of them were going to end up getting married, that Dave had looked over all of his options and had seen that Drina was the one for him. It didn't appear as if there was any chance that they would call off the marriage, or get a divorce, and no reference is made to his character.

Was this film intended as a pseudo-sequel or were they just putting the same character actors in a new environment, while retaining the same names? Whereas Billy Hallop routinely played characters named Tom, Tommy, or Timmy, the names of the rest of the gang members alternated from film to film, indicating that they were not the same characters. In this film, however, they had the same names as before. And if this isn't a sequel, why the reference to the ending of Dead End?