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| Woodburn's dropout rate falls |
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By Charissa Bernard
While Oregon's overall dropout rate inched up 0.3 percent over the past year, area schools had a variety of rate increases and decreases. St. Paul School District remains at a zero percent dropout rate, Woodburn School District's rates dropped 4.2 percent (to 5.2), Gervais School District, not including Douglas Avenue Charter School, saw rates rise by 0.9 percent (to 1.9) and North Marion School District's rates also went up one percent (to 3.9).
Woodburn School District Superintendent Walt Blomberg said, "In 2005-06 we spiked upward to the 9.4 percent. It was a relief to see the rate drop back down."
Woodburn's rates have dropped to an all-time low, but they are still the highest percentage overall, with one in 19 students dropping out before graduation.
In her written report, Director of Secondary School Reform, Laura Lanka said, "Of particular concern to us is the fact that 68 percent of those who dropped out had been in our district for more than five years."
This year's decrease in dropouts may be attributed to the system changes which have been taking place at Woodburn High School.
"One of the benefits of small schools is the more personal connections that can develop in a smaller school and kids are less able to fall through the cracks," said Blomberg. "All of the small high schools created advisory programs where each staff member has a small number of students they meet with regularly. The staff help students deal with issues that range from the academic to college financial aid.
"They help support students who are having discipline or attendance issues."
Lanka agreed that the system is working, but there is still room for improvement.
"We are very pleased to move from over 9 percent dropout the two preceding years to 5.2 percent this year, but what about the individuals who did not graduate?
"Those 33 girls, 36 boys, the one homeless student, the four parenting teens, the five who had to work over 15 hours each week, the five who spoke broken English, the 42 who felt they had dug a hole by failing too many classes - we must be very concerned about these real people who did not graduate."
In order to curb these students from leaving high school, Blomberg said that the district has implemented different ways to interface with at-risk students.
"In addition to advisory classes, each of the schools set up intervention programs for students struggling academically, including credit retrieval, after-school tutoring and Saturday Academy," he said.
"We will continue to identify those students most likely to drop out, as early as possible, and help them create a personal plan to find high school more relevant," said Lanka.
"They must see that staying in school is vital to their future."
In the North Marion School District, Superintendent Linda Reeves attributed the 1 percent rise in dropout rates to an off-campus Chemeketa program, where 16 of the 23 dropouts came from.
"To maintain the relationship with our students and keep them on campus, we have implemented an after-hours alternative program four afternoons a week to assist struggling students to recover credits or prepare for their GED," said Reeves.
"Seniors are the highest priority targets.
"We are committed to keeping our students engaged in school and in order to do that, we must provide interventions to reach them all."
Gervais High School also saw its rates increase nearly 1 percent, but this number does not include the five students who dropped out of Douglas Avenue Alternative School, located within the district.
The alternative school has seen a decrease in dropouts, but still lost 5.4 percent of its students before graduation.
According to these recent figures, only 1.9 Gervais High School students quit in 2006-07 before receiving their diploma.
Gervais Office Manager Sandra Segura and Principal Chuck Borberg said their biggest weapon against dropout rates is the telephone.
"We try to get in contact with the parents, and let them know that if regular high school isn't working for their children, we have other things available," said Segura.
"The phone calls are big here," said Borberg. "Sandra and Becky (Miller) do a good job of calling the kids and getting them back into school - into the alternative school.
"A lot of times we find out that one of the students has moved, and our people will call that new school and make sure that the student is enrolled there."
Both said that catching students early on is very important to reducing the dropout rate.
"The biggest trend that I see is that a lot of students come into their freshman year and aren't prepared for high school," said Borberg.
"They get so far behind in their credits and then they get discouraged and drop out. We are working at getting those kids back into school."
"I think a lot of times, the kids that drop out are not very motivated, so you have to keep it interesting and follow up to find out why they haven't come in and refer them to our alternative center," said Segura.
Last year, Gervais' alternative school hosted 92 students. The school offers a state diploma, which requires only 22 credits, in comparison to the 26 credits required for a Gervais High School diploma.
Borberg said this school offers a different option for struggling students.
"A lot of times, seniors think that they are ready for the world and they drop out, and we try to counsel them to come back," he said.
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