Community can help with Cape graduation rates, education committee says

More community involvement may be a way to address graduation rates in the Cape Girardeau School District.

The Education Solutions Team, which includes school and community leaders, has been meeting since February. The middle school and junior high school committee made a presentation at the group's first meeting of the school year Tuesday. The committee advocated a community support system to reach out to students.

Putting volunteer greeters at the school's front door so students are met with a smiling face could be one solution, said Roy Merideth, junior high school principal.

"It sounds so simple, but it's relational," he said.

Middle school principal Mark Kiehne said he is trying to increase after-school activities to keep students engaged. Last year he started the Cub Club, a tutoring session, to help students keep up with their classes and do homework.

"You can't remediate each day," he said. "You have to trudge on."

The cost of transportation proved to be a challenge for the program, which was scaled down from four days a week to three this year. He said the school is trying to work with churches to help provide transportation.

The committee's presentation also cited poor performance, disruptive behavior and attendance issues as warning signs for dropouts. At the junior high school there were 1,311 discipline referrals last year. There were 920 at the middle school.

On average, 35 at-risk students finishing junior high school are put on a watch list for the high school each year.

The high school loses contact with some students on the list before they even start, said Dr. Mike Cowan, high school principal. The school, which enrolls about 1,370 students, lost contact with 37 students at the start of this school year. About half of those students have moved away, some as far as Florida and New York. Attempts to contact the other students have failed for other reasons, he said.

The United Way of Southeast Missouri created the Education Solutions Team with the goal of having a plan in place by March. Committees have been gathering data and making presentations to the group on a monthly basis. Presentations have included intervention methods for at-risk students, ways to increase literacy and parent involvement.

By including community organizations, the team has exposed different perspectives and solutions that educators might not consider, said superintendent Dr. Jim Welker.

"We definitely don't have all the answers," he said. "It's very important that we get together and talk about it."

abusch@semissourian.com

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