Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 24, 1994 TAG: 9401240063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
David Lam spent all of 10 days in high school.
The 33-year-old Boones Mill man, who now works on a Franklin County dairy farm, dropped out soon after starting the ninth grade.
School cut too deeply into his workday at a Botetourt County haying operation. It seemed a strong back and a willing mind counted more than a high school diploma.
Today, that's not the case. So to deter students from dropping out, at least 27 Franklin County employers have pledged to give high school graduates and GED earners the first shot at jobs.
"We need to send a message to our young people and convey to them the importance of not only a high school education, but a college education," said Walter Harper, owner of Harper's Plumbing Co., who has signed the pledge.
Harper knows too well the consequences of hiring ill-prepared workers.
"We've had people come in who could not do the very simple task of reading a ruler, something you'd expect elementary students to do," he said.
Even in rural Franklin County, book smarts now rate as highly as traditional farm skills. More and more, farmers must know a little marketing, chemistry, computer science and biology just to survive.
In the county's industries, punching the clock isn't enough anymore. Workers need skills in communication, critical thinking, science and math.
Under the pledge, called the Workforce Endorsement Program, higher grades, good attendance records and staying drug-free also boost students' chances of being hired.
The list of participants, which will be posted in schools and mailed to parents, includes businesses considered the backbone of Franklin County's economy: MW Manufacturers, the Lane Co., Franklin Memorial Hospital, DataCard Corp.
The initiative is the latest effort to curb Franklin County's 7.6 percent dropout rate. It's a problem plaguing counties throughout the state, but Franklin County school officials say there is a heightened sense of urgency in their region.
"We'd better produce some kids with technical skills so we can attract industries, or I'm very pessimistic about the future of this region," said Ben Gibson, principal of Franklin County High School.
Part of Gibson's concern is that most dropouts stay in the county, whereas many of the brightest students leave to get college degrees and never return.
"There are very few opportunities to draw those kids back into Franklin County," he said.
Gibson applauded the latest program, but said schools need to do more.
"There's not one answer to stop the dropout problem, because there's not one typical dropout," he said.
Some drop out to pay their car notes, some leave because they become pregnant, and some leave because they don't see the relevance of what they're learning.
"The reasons are as varied as our students," he said. "It goes everywhere from `It's what my parents did,' to severe home problems, to - quite frankly - the school not meeting their needs. We're trying to change that."
County schools are revamping their programs from kindergarten through 12th grade to better prepare students for the changing workplace.
Through a grant the county received, the high school is eliminating its general-track program, which allows students to meander through school without getting the basics, Gibson said. Instead, students and parents will select either an academic or a technical direction. The technical program will include electronics, practical nursing, health care, and media and television.
Most dropouts have a record of high absenteeism, reading problems and lack of involvement in school activities, Superintendent Leonard Gereau said. So the system has started a program to identify first-graders who have not learned to read and write, and give them one-on-one tutoring.
"You just can't start at age 16," Supervisor Wayne Angell said. "This is a learning process that's got to be incorporated all the way through.
"We've ignored this aspect for so long that time is of the essence for us to be competitive as a county, a region and a country," he said.
As for Lam, he's one of the 40 percent of Franklin County adults with less than a high school education.
His father, born in 1903, attended one day of school in the first grade and never returned. For Lam's children - Mikela, 9, and David, 8 - even a high school diploma won't be good enough.
"For them, I'd say they're going to have to have a college education," he said.
by CNB