Local schools design mentoring programs to prevent dropouts

August 29, 2005

By SHAVONNE POTTS
Index-Journal staff writer

School district administrators hope that with so many character education, afterschool tutoring and mentoring programs, students feel that receiving a high school diploma could not be any easier.
“The potential of losing a student begins very early. It can happen when a child gets behind because of attendance,” Greenwood School District 50 Superintendent Bill Steed said.
Steed said if students aren’t successful in ninth grade, it’s a struggle for them in the grades following.
That’s why tutorial programs and homework centers are ways that students can get ahead, if they use those services.
Steed said expectations are higher for students than they’ve ever been. Course loads are tougher and the administrators encourage students to challenge themselves by taking harder courses.
He said the district’s goal is to get all students on their grade level.
“Early intervention is the key,” Steed said.
The district is also trying to improve the career center, he said, so that the offerings are varied. “Students need to be seeking all the training they can get,” he said.
Greenwood School District 51 in Ware Shoals has several dropout preventative programs in place to reach students before a problem arises.
The Seat Recovery Program is one that involves students who’ve missed a certain number of school days. The program offers them an opportunity to attend school on Saturday.
The student is notified by the school district that they’ve missed too many days. Students are charged a fee for Saturday School.
The alternative school is another way in which students who fall behind can receive help. “The alternative school is for students who are behind a year or two,” Superintendent Faye Sprouse said.
Sprouse said the district is finding that more students younger than high school age are falling behind. “We are trying to get them caught up before getting into high school,” she said.
Sprouse said the alternative school provides students with a way to accelerate on their own and get back on track with their grades.
“Teachers can also prepare packets for them. They can work on the work to show mastery of the subject they had a problem with and then the teachers will give them credit,” Sprouse said.
She said the most up-to-date information provided for school drop out rates is for 2003.
At Ninety Six High School, students participate in Academic Acceleration, a yearlong course that focuses on math and English.
“It provides more assistance than a semester course and we try to provide that support,” said Rhonda McDowell, District 52 assistant superintendent for instruction.
McDowell attributes the district’s low dropout rate to the support the students receive from the close-knit community.
The district also focuses on counseling students during their ninth grade year, Superintendent Dan Powell said. “Ninth grade is a big transition year and they can legally quit school at that age,” he said.
The school hopes to open an alternative school to further help students stay in school.
Administrators with the Abbeville School District recently collaborated with the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network about strategies the district could develop as an early prevention.
“They gave us things to implement in our schools,” Assistant Superintendent Kathy Stevenson said.
She said the district has seen a decrease in the number of students who’ve left school. “In most of our cases, we have programs in place for students who show signs of decline,” Stevenson said.
Students are placed on the academic assistance plan before administrators see a decline.
The district also has Saturday School where students can make up their days missed. “Poor attendance is tied to low morale and academic performance,” she said.
Stevenson said character education also has contributed to the low dropout.
After school programs play a role in giving students a way to help themselves.
Students recommended by school administrators meet a few days out of the week to work on areas of need.
The McCormick County School District uses new technology to help monitor students' attendance.
Soon, the schools will be using a program called school messenger in conjunction with the student central database, said Jackie Brown, communications and public relations director.
“The program will call a parent once the child misses a certain amount of school days,” she said.
The program alerts officials if someone received the message, someone hung up the phone or an answering machine picked up.
The district thinks tracking student attendance will impel students to attend school regularly and, therefore, reduce the number of dropouts, Brown said.
Team Approach is another new program that the district is instituting this year at the middle and high school. “Each student is linked with a teacher, guidance counselor or another adult — principal or PTO volunteer who will be a check in for the student,” Brown said.
Each adult will be assigned to five to eight students who they will help with any issues.
“We know that these students are our future. They can become productive members of society,” she said.
The South Carolina Jobs for Americas Graduates (JAG) is a new program that targets students who are considered at risk to provide an outlet for them to talk and learn about skills they’ll need in the workforce.
JAG is a dropout prevention and workplace preparation program for at-risk youth that is supported by school and business partnerships.
It also provides after school tutoring, community service learning projects and internships, Brown said. For students who already have left school, the district encourages them to connect with their GED or adult education programs.
At all schools in Saluda County, the district has overhauled its reading programs in hopes that students who receive help are less likely to quit.
“We provide Academy Time for students to work on math and reading skills,” Student Services Director Shelia Myers said.
Myers said students attend academy time working to improve their skills, and once they’ve accomplished those goals, they move on to other academic needs.
The district has been providing Academy Time for about three years and has seen success, Myers said.
The schools also have career assessments “where students get the mindset for careers,” she said.
Instructors for the career class counsel students about what specific skills they will need.
She said the schools also have career fairs and mentoring programs that also encourage students to stay in school. Students who choose not to return are referred to the district’s GED or adult education programs.
“Our mission is to help children to become independent learners,” Myers said of why it’s important to prevent dropouts.

Shavonne Potts covers general assignments in Greenwood and the Lakelands. She can be reached at 223-1811, ext. 3306, or: spotts@indexjournal.com.

Opinion

Court ‘elected’ Bush so ... he’s legitimate target?

August 29, 2005

The double standards surrounding the U. S. Senate’s advise and consent role in questioning Supreme Court nominees are so politically partisan it’s insulting to the American public, regardless of political affiliation.
Case in point: When she was being questioned as a Justice nominee by Democratic President Bill Clinton, present Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the senators she would not answer questions about issues that would come before the court. Fine. The Senate bought that.
Now, Judge John Roberts, Republican President George Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, is being asked every question in the book by Democratic opponents ….. and they are demanding answers.

MEANWHILE, DON REIGEL, former Democratic U. S. senator from Michigan, was asked in an interview if it was OK for Justice Ginsburg not to answer some questions, why is it not OK for Roberts? Reason? Double standards at work.
Reigel didn’t answer the question, though. He simply came out with the same worn-out anti-Bush rhetoric that has become a Democratic litany.
One thing was revealing, though. Reigel said since the Supreme Court, in effect, “elected Bush” in the first place, it’s important to know Roberts’ history.
So, there it is, in case anyone in South Carolina somehow missed it. Some Democrats still think Al Gore, not Bush, was really elected, and that Bush stole the election. From the gitgo, they have done everything possible to undermine President Bush ….. and it doesn’t if it’s about Iraq, the court, immigration, the war on terror, or any other issue.

THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE is always the same: get Bush! Now, leftist liberals have seized upon the Cindy Sheehan fiasco and made it their own in yet another effort to sabotage the Bush presidency.
If there are doubters, look at those putting up the money to sustain and expand protests. Now a bus protest tour is planned and Sheehan obviously doesn’t have the money to pay for it.
That roster of protest financiers includes wealthy liberals (is that an oxymoron?); professional protesters who marched way back against the Vietnam war and now have found another venue for their radical, anti-America agenda; and the usual array of personalities who have left little doubt about their politics ….. or “isms.”

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Obituaries

Sadler McMullin ‘Mack’ Beaty Jr.

ABBEVILLE — Sadler McMullin (Mack) Beaty, Jr., 90, of 1156 Hwy 28 S., died Sunday, August 28, 2005 at the Abbeville Nursing Home. Mr. Beaty was born in Anderson County, he was the son of the late S.M. and Grace Young Beaty, Sr. He was a member and an Elder Emeritus of the Abbeville A.R.P. Church.
Mr. Beaty was a veteran of World War II serving in the U.S. Army. He was a retired businessman and cattle farmer. Mr. Beaty was founder of Beaty Oil Company and had been a member of various community associations including the Abbeville Lions Club, the Abbeville County Development Board, The Upper Savannah Council of Governments, and the Abbeville County Cattleman’s Association.
Mr. Beaty is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mary Drennan Beaty of the home, a daughter, Mary Beaty Sylvester of Fort Pierce, FL., a son and daughter-in-law, S.M. (Buz) Beaty, III and Judy Stone Beaty, a grandson, S.M. (Mack) Beaty, IV, and a brother, David R. Beaty, all of Abbeville.
The family will receive friends from 6:30PM to 8:30PM Monday, August 29, 2005 at Harris Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 2:00PM Tuesday, August 30, 2005 in the Harris Funeral Home Chapel, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Randy Ruble, and the Rev. Dr. Walter Hickman. Burial will follow in Forest Lawn Memory Gardens.
The family is at the residence 1156 Hwy 28 South Abbeville.
Memorial contributions in memory of Mr. Beaty may be sent to the Abbeville A.R.P Church c/o Margaret Chandler, 1111 North Main St. Abbeville, SC 29620.
Online condolences may be sent to the Beaty family by visiting www.harrisfuneral.com
HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, of Abbeville is assisting the Beaty family.
PAID OBITUARY

Katie Sweat

NINETY SIX — Katie Hill Sweat, 76, resident of 208 Lowell Street, widow of Rev. John W. Sweat, died Saturday, August 27, 2005 at the Ninety Six Church of God of Prophecy.
Born March 5, 1929 in Abbeville County, she was a daughter of the late Dan and Alma Howington Hill. She was a retired weaver from Greenwood Mills Sloan Plant where she was also a member of the Quarter Century Club. She was a substitute cafeteria worker with the Ninety Six School District.
Mrs. Sweat was a long time member of the Ninety Six Church of God of Prophecy where she was also the Missionary Leader of the church, a song leader and the teacher of the Adult Sunday School Class.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Allen (Kathy C.) McIntosh of Ninety Six; a sister, Eula Mae Kennedy of Donalds; two brothers, Robert Hill of Ware Shoals and Dale Hill of Ninety Six; 5 grandchildren, Renee Cochran, Tammy Emert, Kevin Carithers, Eric McIntosh and Melissa Murray; 8 great grandchildren; 1 great-great grandchild.
She was predeceased by her first husband, Aaron E. Cannon, her second husband, H. Ellis Turner, a daughter, Janice Cannon Carithers and a brother Homer Hill.
Funeral services will be conducted 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at the Blyth Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. J. Carlisle Grimsley officiating.
Burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Gardens.
Pallbearers will be Billy Carithers, Chris Cochran, Daniel Hill, Danny Hill, Ricky Hill, Doug Hill, Tim Emert, Eric McIntosh, Jon Emert and Billy Kennedy.
Honorary escort will be members of the Ninety Six Church of God of Prophecy along with Rev. Bobby Davis and Forrest McIntosh.
The family is at the home on Lowell Street and will receive friends at Blyth Funeral Home from 1 to 2 Tuesday afternoon prior to the service.
Flowers are preferred but memorials may be made to the Ninety Six Church of God of Prophecy, 4401 Hwy 246 S., Ninety Six, SC 29666.
For additional information please visit www.blythfuneralhome.com
BLYTH FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICES IS ASSISTING THE SWEAT FAMILY.
PAID OBITUARY

CORRECTION

For the obituary of Florence Rushton in Sunday’s paper, a survivor was omitted from the information given to The Index-Journal. Survivors include a sister, Irene Butler of Greenwood.