Spring, Klein schools target dropouts

Outreach efforts are planned with walks around neighborhoods on Saturday

Officials with the Spring and Klein school districts will be reaching out to dropouts in an effort to help them come back to finish school and obtain a high school diploma.

Spring ISD will hold its second annual Reaching for Excellence Graduation Walk Sept. 12.

During the walk, school district administrators and community members will visit the homes of high school students who have not returned this school year, have a history of excessive absences or have high indicators that they will not complete high school.

“Educating a student is the responsibility of the entire community and we want to team up with our partners — business leaders, families, clergy, politicians and anyone interested in seeing students succeed — to help get our students back on the right track,” said LaQuita Carter, executive director of family and community engagement for the district. “We are looking for volunteers throughout the Spring area to help us with this important investment of re-engaging our students and our families.”

Last year, 250 volunteers traveled the neighborhoods surrounding all 37 school dis-

trict campuses to knock on doors and let students who had not returned, or are struggling with attendance or academic performance, know that the district and their community care and want to help.

Overall, volunteers knocked on 874 doors and made contact with more than 500 students or former students.

“As you can imagine, the Grad Walk is another opportunity to engage with our students who may be struggling to stay focused on their academics. In many cases these students aren’t attending school because of outside factors including little interest in school, the need to work, etc.,” said Spring ISD Superintendent Rodney Watson.

Like last year, Spring ISD volunteers will be paired with school teams to pass out handouts, door hangers and information about the district’s options to complete high school.

Other volunteers will be used to support school operations that day, including greeting visitors and answering phones.

Teams will begin at each comprehensive high school before being dispersed into neighborhoods and apartment complexes to talk with students and families.

“A personal phone call or visit can be the one thing that helps them realize just how close they are to completing high school or just how important it is to be at school every day,” Watson said. “The Grad Walk is only one step in a much larger program. Our school administrators, counselors, principals, teachers will continue to monitor students who are struggling in hopes of helping them get back on track.”

Also on Sept. 12, Klein ISD will join with other school districts in Greater Houston for the 10th annual Reach Out to Dropouts Walk.

Angie Mentz, Klein ISD high school completion specialist, said the district will be targeting 100 homes in the district to encourage those students to come back to school and earn their high school diploma.

Last year, Klein ISD staff also targeted 100 homes and made contact with 45 former students and their families.

Of those contacts, 35 students returned to earn their high school diploma in 2014.

“The information we find from visiting the homes gives us an idea of where the students are now . . . we also learn that students are reluctant to return to school because they are older; if they didn’t graduate with their class we invite them (to participate) in a drop out intervention program that has flexible hours,” Mentz said.

One of those is known as the 2nd Chance program, which is offered to those who may not have graduated with their class because they need credits, or have not passed the exit level State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test.

The 2nd Chance program, which is in its sixth year, is regarded as a highly successful program that has helped more than 700 dropouts return to school to earn their high school diploma.

However, Mentz said the number of dropouts in Klein ISD has been on the decline the last several years because the staff and teachers are being more attentive to those students who exhibit signs of dropping out.

“We are not seeing as many fall through the cracks. We’ve already met with (some of the students) and we have interventions in place,” Mentz said.