Wawasee Vice Principal Sees Promise In Dropout Prevention
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a four-part series on the formation and administration of the Dropout Prevention Committee. The committee includes a group of community and school officials from Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw and Wawasee school corporations with the stated goal of reducing the dropout rates at those schools. The committee plans to put graduation coaches in high schools and mentoring programs in elementary and middle schools.
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Sometimes it takes the perspective of someone new to realize the potential of a program.
Wawasee High School Vice Principal Dennis Howland has only been a part of the Dropout Prevention Committee since March.
Coming from Indianapolis, he said his perspective on the program is almost that of an outsider's perspective. However, he said it is refreshing to see private organizations and businesses working in conjunction with public schools to tackle the problem."If you can keep kids in school, that will keep your population work worthy, and in the end that saves you money," said Howland.
Schools are busy educating students so they don't have time to find proper mentors for children. The Kids Hope program will provide students mentoring and that will be a benefit to all the schools, he said.
"I encourage people who want to be involved to be involved," Howland said. "It's a positive program in the county. Anyone who wants to be a part (of the mentoring program) can contact the Baker Youth Club.
"The saying is it takes a village to raise a child. This is an opportunity for the Kosciusko County village to band together. ... We're happy at Wawasee that there's this countywide effort in helping with a problem we've seen at Wawasee for awhile now."
For its graduation coaches, Howland said Jeff Phillips and Ann Rackley will be utilized. The master schedule has been accommodated so Phillips and Rackley will have one less period per day to use for graduation coaching. Both Phillips and Rackley were very interested in the opportunity.
"This is a long-term commitment," Howland said.
"Research says if you can make a positive connection to an adolescent, there's quite a bit of merit that they will stay in school."
