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New Schools Post to Focus on Drop-Out Problem

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

WEST WARWICK - The School Committee plans to hire an administrator who will develop strategies to lower the stubbornly high drop-out rate at West Warwick High School.

Among the principal responsibilities of the director of special programs and support services, a new position, is to develop a drop- out prevention program. The administrator, who will work at the high school, will have a salary of as much as $80,000 a year.

West Warwick High's drop-out rate has fluctuated between 20 percent and 25 percent over the past several years. Twenty four percent of the Class of 2004 did not graduate. In June, only 76 percent of the graduating class received diplomas. (Several more high school seniors crossed the stage during a graduation ceremony on Aug. 17, following summer school classes.)

"It's too high, there's no doubt about it," high school principal Cheryl Tutalo said of the drop-out rate.

The School Committee approved the new position on Aug. 10. The vote followed the resignation of Timothy Chace, the director of student services, whose post the school board eliminated.

Supt. David P. Raiche said the new administrator will study an alternative academic program in place at Deering Middle School, in which students study several topics with a single teacher. The new administrator may create a similar program at the high school, Raiche said.

"Typically, these are kids that don't do well in a formal school setting," Raiche said. "You need to move them out of that formalized setting."

Tutalo said the new administrator will give personalized attention to students referred by their guidance counselor or who are lagging behind in graduation credits and accumulating absences. Students at risk of dropping out, Tutalo said, are often socially and academically disconnected, and they may lack personal attention from faculty at the 1,200-student school.

The new administrator will not be responsible for arranging class schedules, a job that caused clashes between Chace and faculty members. The high school and middle school principals will now arrange faculty schedules.

With the extra time, Tutalo said, the new administrator will be able to give personalized attention to students, evaluating problems and recommending social services and counseling. "We did shuffle some of the responsibilities," she said. "I'm hoping this person will have the time to dedicate to these students."

This is not the first time school officials have tried to lower the drop-out rate. Last year, administrators in West Warwick, Coventry and East Greenwich tried to establish a regional school for students at risk of dropping out. The Rhode Island Foundation helped pay for the planning of the proposed school, but the initiative foundered for lack of financing.

At West Warwick High School, administrators have created an online credit retrieval program that allows students to obtain academic credits via online course work and tests. The high school also permits students to attend summer school classes and earn credits at a career center in Warwick.

But absenteeism, truancy and a low graduation rate have persisted. And as students prepare for the start of school on Thursday, the district has not yet hired the new administrator.

Laurent E. Lamothe, the School Department's director of personnel and human resources, reposted advertisements for the new post on Aug. 21, after an earlier recruitment effort yielded only five applications and no recommendations from Raiche to the school board.

On Saturday, freshmen attended an orientation cookout behind the high school. Teachers arrive tomorrow and classes for freshmen begin Wednesday. Raiche said on Friday that he still hopes to fill the new position soon.

Source: Providence Journal

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