Don't Ditch the Drop-Outs

By Nancy Ann Matarrita

The PUSD Drop out rate is unacceptable, costing millions of dollars and hundreds of students. Nancy Matarrita shares the stories of drop outs in her neighborhood and her innovative plan to curb the loss of more students.

Let me share a bit about the drop outs in my own neighborhood as my children grew. Now, there were the girls who lacked parental supervision at home, and got involved with older men and ended up pregnant. Now, with a new focus in life, school got in the way and they dropped out. Then there were the young men who got caught up in drugs, alcohol and gangs. When the substances started to rule their lives, or when gang pressures became too much, they felt school was no longer relevant and left. Now the saddest story of all however, are the young people who just could not pass the exit exam their sophomore or junior year and felt like failures at school. With no hope of graduating, they dropped out.

You can review all sorts of studies about why students give up, but it usually comes down to one of the above reasons - illicit behaviors that are tolerated within the community and then feelings of failure and hopelessness.

Effectively reducing the number of drop out students comes down to changing attitudes, perceptions, expectations and hope. Visionary and inspiring leaders need to be at the forefront of making those changes. I can be that leader with your support and vote.

Now, my plans to reduce the drop out rate:

1. Retrain safety personnel to use technology to monitor students at risk and those who are chronically absent, so problems can be addressed early. Be relentless in tracking down habitual truants.

2. Refocus community-wide on the laws that pertain to illicit behavior for minors - underage sex, underage drinking, bullying, carrying weapons, etc.

3. Offer alternative vocational training and apprentice certificates for those students that might not pass tests and for those that prefer trades over college.

Not only will reducing the drop out incidence keep more money in our district, but it will save money in the community by keeping our students off welfare and out of jails.