9486 in the collection
In Houston, an Administrator Has a Plan for Preventing Drop Outs; District Retaliates Against Him
NOTE: Bob Kimball a Houston administrator trying to keep kids in school--and to rescue those who have been pushed out. In a personal communcation he revealed what Houston does to whistle blowers:
"They removed me from the kids and teachers as punishment for reporting the problem. There have been 5 TV reports on the corruption dealing with reporting dropouts. The District is also attempting to remove me for reporting the "crime". I feel a victory in the sense that it is all on the table now and not hidden under a rug. The Superintendent told the Lt Governor last week that she believes that the dropout rate is 40% and not the 2% she had been reporting for years."
From the Ranks: How We Can Save Our 'Lost Students'
Robert H. Kimball
At 15, I decided not to return to school after Christmas break. I had almost all failing grades, nine brothers and sisters who were dropouts, a single parent who never went to school or learned to read and write and was living in absolute poverty. After a year of working, I entered the military within days of my 17th birthday. As a result of opportunities in the military, I retired as a senior Army officer with a generous pension and am now a school administrator in the Houston Independent School District with a doctorate from the University of Houston.
These opportunities are not available today, because the military does not accept dropouts. Today, dropouts do not have the privilege to defend their country or earn the benefits of military service as I did in two tours in Vietnam and 25 years of service. Today, there are more high school dropouts in America than in the days of my youth. Many of these dropouts are ending up in prisons; low-paying jobs or are unemployed.
Dropouts make up a large percentage of those who are on welfare, Medicaid, and who are raising children that are at risk of dropping out. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston released in January reports that the Texas economy is lagging because of the dropout problem. Every large city in Texas has been reporting an increase in the dropout rate according to the study. Texas is 42nd in the level of educational attainment.
As a high school administrator, I have seen the problem increase over the past 10 years. I have witnessed many assistant principals "bouncing" students out of school, some as young as 15 years of age. Oftentimes, the students or their parents are told to withdraw their students because the student is a discipline problem. The parent and student almost always comply, because they do not understand their rights. When I call to check on the students, I learn that they are just sitting at home because they are too young to find a job, cannot find one because they are dropouts or are providing a baby-sitting service for their parent(s).
There are estimates that the dropout rate in HISD ranges between 20 and 50 percent. However, HISD has been reporting dropout rates of less than 5 percent and some schools with large at-risk populations have been reporting zero percent. In October 2002, I became aware that dropout rates at my high school were being reported incorrectly. I was shocked to learn that we had reported zero dropouts when I knew for a fact many students had quit to go to work or for other reasons.
I notified our principal in three memos of this situation. She took no action. As a result the school received a "recognized" rating and every employee received a cash bonus. When I also learned that in addition to the bonuses, HISD was awarded a national prize for being the best urban district in the country, I had to question if the bonuses and award were based on fraudulent dropout data.
I believe there is a cover-up of the dropout problem in HISD. Last week, a district superintendent stated to the faculty and staff at Sharpstown High School that the dropout rate was really only 2 percent and that they had earned their bonuses. This indicates to me that HISD is ignoring the problem it has with dropouts. Each year, about 500 withdraw from each high school. If you consider the number of high schools in HISD, those figures suggest that more than 10,000 high schools students leave school each year.
Where are they? How can we save these "lost student"? I believe that improving the graduation rate is a challenge that can be met when we as a community recognize the problem and commit to a course of action that will increase the graduation rate. HISD could increase its graduation rates if it takes the following actions:
·Report accurate dropout rates and provide consequences, not rewards for falsifying data.
·Replace all but two assistant principals at each high school with a counselor.
·Require all students who withdraw to complete a survey that attempts to learn why they are leaving school. Require them to meet with a counselor, assistant principal and principal in that order prior to leaving. Use the surveys to improve the school and address student problems.
·Place posters, flyers and articles on the importance of staying in school and graduating in all classrooms and in common areas at high schools.
· Provide a mandatory 45-minute assembly every other month for all high school students to encourage students to be persistent and graduate.
· Require principals to report on the status of all students who withdraw at a monthly meeting with their district superintendents.
·Develop an outreach program to encourage dropouts under the age of 20 to return to school.
Who will make the changes necessary to stop the mass exodus of our students from high school? Will it be the superintendent, who went to Austin last week to plead with officials not to punish HISD for its dropout reporting problems? Or will our school board, which has indicated that it does not want to be a rubber stamp, take the initiative and provide directives which incorporate the proposals above to the administration? For change to take place, parents and taxpayers will have to embrace the "no child left behind" objective and demand decisive action to achieve it. If Houstonians do not stand up soon for those tens of thousands who will drop out in the next three years, then they can expect to pay billions more in taxes for the expansion of our prisons and billions more in tax dollars on social programs.
Kimball is an assistant principal at Sharpstown High School. He is on temporary assignment at the Houston Independent School District's West District Office. He can be e-mailed at kimball400@aol.com.
— Robert H. Kimball
From the ranks: How we can save our 'lost students'
Houston Chronicle
April 11, 2003
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1861379
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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