Richmond targets school dropouts

Richmond School Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon unveiled yesterday a plan she hopes will further decrease the school system's dropout rate, which most recently went from 16.2 percent to 14.8 percent.

The school system's Dropout Prevention Initiative aims to get dropouts back into the classroom to graduate.

"We are looking at why students are dropping out and developing ways to re-engage those students who have become disengaged," she said. "The plan is not just about getting them in, but getting them to become motivated to stay in."

When the school year began Sept. 8, the system counted 2,700 students who hadn't returned to school. Since that time, the number has decreased to 400.

Brandon outlined an initiative that includes the mentoring of students, individual learning plans and partnerships with higher education institutions, elected officials, and faithand community-based organizations.

She said the dropout prevention plan doesn't require any additional funding.

"We creatively redistributed resources," she said. "We're not adding new positions."

School Board member Kim Bridges said the community as a whole working together can help curb the problem.

"It's definitely not a problem that RPS alone can solve. The superintendent has done a great job bringing folks to the table and making it a priority. I think that is the key," she said.

The initiative includes a component of going door-to-door to find the students who dropped out and bringing them back to school.

Ronald Robinson is one of two recovery specialists who canvass city neighborhoods looking for those students.

He said he sometimes visits 25 to 30 houses a day talking to parents and students.

"My main thing is to get you on my side; don't come in there trying to be an enforcer," Robinson said. "Sit there and tell them these are the facts and this what you've got to do. You'd be amazed how many people listen when you don't threaten them."

Mariah Kelley is a success story. After transferring from Thomas Jefferson High School to Commonwealth Christian Academy, she dropped out in November in the 11th grade. But a year later, she enrolled in Richmond's Performance Learning Center. She was pregnant and needed 14 credits to graduate.

Despite missing nearly two months of school after the birth of her daughter on Nov. 1, 2008, Kelley graduated from the learning center in June.

She now is enrolled in J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and wants to be a nurse anesthesiologist.

"There are several Mariahs in Richmond. We need to reach out and bring them back to school, so they can have a similar story," said Brandon.

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .