We've told you about the startling number of students dropping out of our high schools.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction says more than 23,000 students dropped out of high school in the 2006-2007 school year. One school system in the east is very aware of that number. And in this Nine On Your Side Assignment Education we explain how a district hopes a new program will help reverse the trend.
School is back in session and Greene County schools Superintendent Patrick Miller says keeping some students from leaving school can be a challenge: "We were realizing that our short term suspension numbers was increasing we looked at data from 2005 to last year and saw an increase."
With more suspensions come more kids dropping out so for a while now the school system has been looking for ways to reverse the trend
This year the Greene County school board started a plan called the Redirection Alternative Program or RAP to prevent suspended students from falling behind in school: "Students who are suspended for more than 1 day, so from 2 to 10 days they have the exception of reporting to RAP and keeping up with their class work."
Another benefit to the program miller says is working regularly with a mentor of their choice, anyone from a teacher's assistant to a custodian.
Miller says, "If they're suspended from school a lot of times we don't know if someone's at home with them or not gives them another opportunity to a second chance."
A chance to dispel negative attitudes toward education to keep students on the right track.
The program will be offered at the current alternative school for Greene County, until October, a new building will house the program at Four Way Road. The program is open for middle and high school students once a grading period and can hold 22 students a day.
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