Huge Turnout for Forum on Dropouts; Conversation to Continue in Spring

By Amber Lester Sunday, December 06, 2009

Organizers of Saturday’s community forum on education had an enviable problem: not enough chairs.

Around 120 parents, preachers, teachers, administrators and advocates packed into the Williamsburg Community Building to talk about possible solutions to one of the bigger problems facing Williamsburg-James City County schools — a high dropout rate.

The event, called “Helping Children Succeed: A Community Conversation,” brought out representatives from more than 40 community organizations, varying from Kiwanis Club to Child Development Resources to the Colonial Williamsburg Educational Outreach. The idea for the forum came from a speech on local dropout statistics by Jennifer Taylor at a September meeting of the Friday Luncheon Group. After the speech, education advocate Lois Hornsby said, “This dialogue needs to continue.”

Organizer Bill Bryant, coordinator of the Friday Luncheon Group, welcomed guests Saturday by saying, “Well Lois, here’s your meeting.”

Tony Conyers, the Virginia Commissioner of Social Services, moderated the event. Before assuming state office, Conyers worked for 22 years as James City County’s Community Services Manager. Conyers welcomed the group by reminding them Williamsburg has one of the “most resourced, rich communities in America.”

“The problem with that is, if we can’t get this done here, we can’t get it done anywhere,” he said.

As organizers worked to get more folding chairs, Conyers passed the microphone to Dr. Vivian Stith-Williams, a student services specialist with the Virginia Department of Education whose expertise is in dropout prevention. During her speech, Stith-Williams talked about her personal experiences with dropouts: both her parents and her sister dropped out of school before progressing past the ninth grade.

She framed the problems that face a community with a high dropout rate: an untrained, uneducated work force; increased poverty and crime; and limited community participation. Stith-Williams told the audience there are four classes of dropouts: students who are pushed out by disciplinary actions; students affected by life-changing events, such as pregnancy; students promoted despite failure of classes; and students failing classes.

Stith-Williams, who said Old Dominion University told her she wasn’t “college material,” emotionally recounted the names of every teacher who encouraged her as a student in Southampton County schools. She highlighted relationships as strategic actions to combat dropping out, saying “caring adults and creating a sense of belonging can make the difference.”

Jennifer Taylor, an associate professor of German at the College of William and Mary, then presented statistics on WJCC’s recent dropouts. Taylor, an organizer of Saturday’s forum, showed that 91 percent of the district’s infractions were rudeness and skipping class. She argued out-of-school suspension is not the answer for most of those infractions, and showed that long-term out-of-school suspensions nearly tripled between the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. Many of the students sent home might have been alone and unsupervised during that time. “Sending them home is not an option,” she said.

Misty Kirby, a classroom teacher in Newport News with previous experience teaching in the Bronx and in jails, spoke about discipline in the classroom. She reviewed tactics that have and haven’t worked for her and her colleagues. Inconsistent discipline, guessing about students’ home lives and giving too much freedom are common mistakes, she said.

But having high expectations for all students, giving positive feedback and getting to know students through relationships have all worked for her. She told the audience she always calls parents within two weeks of starting a new semester and the audience erupted into applause. “You have no idea how many parents said a teacher never called,” she said.

After Kirby’s speech, the audience split into groups charged to come up with approaches to boosting literacy and alternative discipline methods. School board members worked alongside parent advocates, college professors and teachers to talk frankly about what needs to be done, whether its feasible within WJCC’s cash-strapped budget or not. Ten minutes to brainstorm on each topic wasn’t enough; chatter continued long after Conyers asked the groups to stop.

Following nearly 30 minutes of collaborative discussion, Conyers passed the microphone to representatives from each table. Themes began to emerge from each group’s suggestions.

To boost literacy, the groups suggested improving early childhood education programs, improving adult literacy, researching the different ways children learn, boosting parental involvement and pooling community resources. Lisa Ownby, a member of the Parent Teacher Association Council, received cheers when she said schools need to shift from a deficit-based model that only emphasizes where children fail, rather than where they succeed.

Groups’ suggestions for alternatives to traditional discipline included offering skilled trade classes and programs like JROTC, tailoring discipline to students, giving teachers more oversight of discipline, creating a formalized process to transition students into schools and emphasizing appropriate behavior. But more than anything, every group said they’d like to see an elimination of out-of-school suspensions.

When the two-and-a-half hour forum ended, people continued to mingle and converse. Taylor beamed as she accepted surveys from attendees. “We had so much more than we thought,” she said. “And what a diverse group!”

The organizers plan to have a second community forum in March. The comments from Saturday’s forum will be compiled into a report delivered to the school board and administration. On Jan. 6, the WJCC school administration will have a summit on dropout prevention from 9 a.m. to noon at the Williamsburg Lodge.