ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512180050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Pulaski County has cut its dropout rate by more than half in the past five years, but school officials agree it isn't enough.
"We can do better than that," Karen Clymer, coordinator for pupil personnel services, told the county School Board Thursday night.
The rate of students lost in the 1991-92 school year was about 6 percent, or 163 students. For 1994-95, it was 2.7 percent or 65 students.
School officials have been working on lowering the dropout rate. Cindy Watson, leader of a dropout prevention task force at Pulaski County High School, told the board about programs presented in county schools this year to encourage students to stay in school.
She said the school system is adding some programs that will give students a practical reason to stay in school, focusing on life management skills such as balancing a checkbook and filling out job applications. A transition center for incoming high school students also is planned.
Task force members sometimes visit students who have left school or are thinking about it.
"These people get out and knock on doors and bring kids back," Clymer said. The task force has nine members but is supported by others including teachers and students.
Superintendent Bill Asbury said the dropout rate went from about 5 percent in 1993-94 to less than 3 percent last year, but it will take longer to see if the downward trend is permanent.
"We'll see next year," he said. "It's important that this not be a one-year dip in our statistics."
Even with fewer dropouts, Pulaski County is losing students at a faster rate this year than last.
Some students left because their families moved. A few were expelled or suspended. The board put four students on long-term suspensions Thursday, three for possession of a weapon on school property and one for "chronic insubordination."
Pulaski County has tried to find out how many of its students are attending Radford city schools, but Asbury said Radford so far has refused to provide the information. "We've heard everything from 150 to 160," Asbury said. "We don't think it's that many."
In any case, average daily attendance is about 50 students below where school officials hoped it would be for the first quarter of this school year. That translates into fewer state dollars. Pulaski County and other rural school districts have been losing state funding anyway because of the way the composite index, a combination of real estate values and school population and also the basis for state funding, has shaped up in recent years.
"It's not good," Asbury said. The funding cuts are coming at a time when costs are going up, especially for computer and other technology classes.
Isabel Berney, director of research, media and technology, presented a technology plan which the board approved in concept but without funding at this point. "We may have a lot of that going on next year," Asbury said.
Berney said costs for new technology were higher than originally projected, but technology training is more important than ever.
Computers purchased as recently as August are already inadequate, said Jim Sandidge, manager of information systems. "It's a radically changing environment."
He said spending on cleaning, servicing and repair of computer equipment is starting to pay off, in saving in replacement and repair costs.
The school system also has been able to link with the Southwest Virginia Governor's School, through a National Aeronautics and Space Administration grant allowing Pulaski County High School to be linked with Governor's School technology. The NASA project will link it to Dublin Elementary School next. "And I can't put a price tag on the expertise they've donated to us," Sandidge said.
Asbury said the technology plan "is like a road map. We may or may not be able to accomplish everything on this list ... but we've got to have targets."
The board also approved tougher attendance regulations, including notification of parents when a student has missed five days of school and another, after 10 days missed, noting the possibility of not completing class requirements.
Barbara Whittaker, a parent, said she had two children who had undergone an unusual number of health problems this year and that getting such a letter would be upsetting to them. She had already received a letter notifying her of the five missed days but, if a child is ill, "I don't think it's right to to school sick because he's at the 10-day limit. ... Before you all approve this, I think it needs to be looked into a little bit farther."
Clymer said the school system would work with parents on problems of this kind, but one reason for the new policy is that irate parents were calling school officials complaining that their children had missed 30 days of school and they were never notified.
"We had situations where children were being checked out early three and four times a week," Asbury said. "We know there are emergencies," he said, but "the pattern begins to form early . ... The children learn that it's OK to arrive late and it's OK to leave early."
There have been occasions when children are checked out early because parents are going to an out-of-town sports event, he said, or arrive late because a parent did not get them off to school in time. "We're asking the parents to work with us, and get up a little early," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB