WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |Lee County Schools seek dialogue on drop-out rate
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August 24, 2009
By Chris Vessell bio | email | twitter
AUBURN, AL (WTVM) - Some East Alabama schools are looking to the public to help address the state's high school drop-out dilemma. Lee County School administrators held the first of four meetings that allow citizens to weigh in on the issue.
Administrators in Lee County are addressing a very real problem in Alabama - the increase in high school drop-outs. "Simply raising awareness for the problem, and trying to come up with some solutions," Daren Douthitt, Assistant Superintendent said.
A total of 32 students dropped out of Lee County Schools during the 2007-2008 School year. The School System heard from the public at a forum in Loachapoka Monday.
The statewide drop-out rate is 39%. Locally, the Assistant Superintendent says it's the reason Loachapoka and Smiths Station didn't achieve Annual Yearly Progress last year. "Everyone who has a stake in this issue, and I think everyone does, we want to bring them to the table and want them to help us help the students we serve," Douthitt said.
One of those drop-outs was Mitch Bruce, who we interviewed earlier this year. "At the time, I didn't look at it as being important when I dropped out, but once you get out there and start looking for work it's a different story," Mitch Bruce, said. He now has his GED and is now attending college to become a teacher.
"All of them have incredible potential, we just need to help them find ways to realize their potential," said Dr. Cynthia Reed, Director of the Truman Pierce Institute at Auburn University.
Thanks to a $400,000 dollar corporate grant, researchers at Auburn University are working to provide solutions by studying why teenagers drop out of school. On the flip side, Dr. Reed and her team help counsel those at-risk students and provide them with leadership and development training.
Reed says its too early to tell if they approach is working but she has seen some positive results. "What we are seeing is that kids have a different attitude about how they view themselves and relationships with each other, and their communication with faculty," Dr. Reed said.
As students return to school, administrators are doing their own homework to help solve the problem. "We hope to go to all of the attendance zones for Lee County Schools and have the same kind of people as it relates to their community in dropouts" Douthitt said.
