Posted on 11/22/2010 6:21:47 PM PST by RandysRight
http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/2271/articleid/389125/newspaperid/2257/Northwood_dropout_rates_decrease.aspx
So Principal Blice calls my daughter a High School Drop Out by law and will have to explain for the rest of her life why she didn’t graduate from a public school, what a crock!!
My wife and I worked hard with the our daughter and the public education system but it was not working for her. We spent hours after school trying to assist her with homework and even consulted a personal tutor. Yet when we as a family decided what was best for our daughter, we choose to have her complete her education at CCCC to complete her high school diploma. For those few months, I never seen my daughter work so hard to complete her degree, on her own terms. My daughter never had a discipline problem in High School and I believe her teachers from Perry Harrison and Chatham County High school would agree. Our daughter now has a well-paying PT job as an intern, no less at a company that works in education She is also registering for Junior College next semester.
I believe we should be congratulating these kids that completed their high school education by an alternative route, whether it be homeschooling or other programs.
So Principal Brice, when you call my daughter a drop out, it was your public education and bureaucrats that are failing these kids, not the child or parents in many cases.
Also, in last month’s Chatham County newspaper, it read that since she got her high school diploma, she was not counted as drop out on the state’s statistics. So Principal Blice, quit trying to cover your own butt at my daughter’s expense. Below is the Chatham County High School newspaper and the quote from Principle Blice and the interview with my child.
“By law though, they are considered a dropout,” said Blice. “[So for] the rest of your life you’re going have to explain why you did not make it at a traditional high school.”
Randy’s Right
The complete article below quote:
“By law though, they are considered a dropout,” said Blice. “[So for] the rest of your life you’re going have to explain why you did not make it at a traditional high school.”
Last month’s Homecoming pep rally was filled with many memorable moments, leaving Northwood students with a lot to discuss. One conversation in particular was the small size of the senior class. When entering the gym in years past the bleachers were filled with enthusiastic seniors. At this year’s pep rally, the senior bleachers housed a new norm—vacancy. The 2011 senior class entered sophomore year with 212 students, but this year stands at just 177 students. This significant decline can be linked to several factors, dropouts being one of them. According to Choices Education Group, every school day, 7,000 teenagers become high school dropouts. Nationally dropouts are on the rise, but in the past two years, Northwood’s drops out rates have actually been improving.
Based on the 2010 School Four Year Cohort Graduation Rate, Northwood was at 81%. Preliminary findings show that 38 students dropped out from Northwood in 2009-2010. While in 2008-2009 a total of 45 students dropped out. Although things are improving, principal Chris Blice still feels that dropout rates are an issue in the school, county, state and nation. “I think it’s an issue everywhere. I think it’s regrettable, something I wish never happened. But it’s certainly something I wish we could change,” said Blice. But to tackle and fix the issue, the first step has to be identifying the cause. Both Blice and social worker Saundra Gardner think that students have a variety of real reasons for wanting to drop out. “Nine times out of 10, they’ll say poor attendance. Poor attendance is just a symptom of what causes it. Sometimes it’s family situations,” Blice said. “Sometimes it’s if they’ve gotten behind academically and they just don’t want to come to school. Sometimes it’s that they’ve gotten a job and now [they’re saying] ‘I can earn a dollar if I work, instead of coming to school.’” Males are twice as likely to drop out as females and a majority of dropouts leave during their junior year. Gardner has a different description of the typical dropout. She sees students with average grades dropping out of high school. A major predictor of dropouts is the age of a student when they enter high school from middle school. Statistics show that there is a higher chance that students entering high school at age 16 will drop out. Northwood exit interviews reveal that many students drop out because they feel that CCCC can offer a quicker way to a diploma. Others reported dropping out because they’ve been suspended numerous times and feel they could benefit from a less structured environment. Many also feel like they cannot graduate from high school before age 21, which is a requirement. Some leave because they have to work and a few have left to be parents. “I really can’t tell you that the students who drop out are the students who struggle the most,” Gardner said. “Because a lot of students could have graduated from Northwood but decided to go to CCCC instead. And those are students that, in some cases, even had the potential to go to college who just decided that CCCC was what they wanted.” Students who wish to drop out are required to bring their parents for verification. Then the social workers and guidance counselors recommend alternatives such as SAGE Academy, which requires only 21 credits to graduate. Other options are doubling up on classes, doing a fifth period, or taking online classes for credit recovery. Jordan Dye faced this decision when she made the choice to withdraw from Northwood and attend CCCC for her senior year. She discussed it with her family and they all agreed that it would be better for her to leave Northwood. “I found out you could graduate in two months instead of spending two…semesters at Northwood. So I decided to go,” she said. But what Dye and other students may not realize is that officially withdrawing and going to a community college is considered dropping out. “At first, people thought that I went there to get a GED. But I actually went to CCCC and got a high school diploma. So it’s the same thing as if I were to graduate from Northwood,” said Dye. Dye is happy with her circumstances. Her only regret is not being able to experience senior year at Northwood. Ultimately she feels that students who go to a community college should not be counted as dropouts since they are still continuing their education. “I didn’t really drop out. I just transferred to get a different type of education. ‘Dropout’ to me is for somebody who just drops out of school and does not come back at all,” Dye said. George Gregor-Holt, director of student services for Chatham County Schools, agrees with Dye but the state of North Carolina has decided that students who leave high school to attend a community college will be counted in the dropout rate. “By law though, they are considered a dropout,” said Blice. “[So for] the rest of your life you’re going have to explain why you did not make it at a traditional high school.” Chatham County Schools has started implementing many changes to keep teenagers in school. Chatham County Schools has a drop out task force. This task force is composed of administrators around the county who attend workshops to create better strategies. Gregor-Holt’s ideal solution is to adjust graduation requirements. He wants students to take only the necessary classes with basic academics that appeal to their concentration of vocation. “I think students should recognize how important it is for them to follow through on walking across the stage and getting a diploma,” Gardner said. “And that it is a really good way to end your high school career.” Gregor-Holt concurs with Gardner but thinks students often need to learn for themselves what life is like without a high school diploma. “Sometimes students have to go out and see what it is like. Given the financial environment, applying for a job and there’s like 50 or 60 applicants, and 40 of them have high school diplomas and you don’t. You’re not even going to be considered,” said Gregor-Holt. “Even if it’s just to show the piece of paper so you can be competitive in this workforce we have right now. It is important to stay in school.”
Not a drop-out
A refusenik (otkaznik)
Go your own way, do not worry what others will think, and so you will make your own life and not what other think that life should be.
Agreed.
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Here’s my modest proposal for education reform.
We have been discussing ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the liberal agenda and other idiocies:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84
Proposal for the Free Republic High School Diploma.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316882/posts
Just be glad she is out and try to shake the Stockholm syndrome you guys have lived with for the last few years being the captive of petty bureaucrats! Public school drones think they are way more important and powerful than they really are in the scheme of things.
You are exactly right. They gave us that line when I was in school, but here, 20 years on the only time anyone asks me a single question about HS is when I meet someone who grew up in the same metro area, and the question always is “so what high school did you go to?” Outside of that, no one cares about HS.
I didn’t go to a great high school, so I’m quite happy no one pays any attention to where I was before college and grad school.
Chatham County Community College
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