THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502260070
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
A crackdown on student misbehavior, school officials say, contributed to a rise last year in the city's dropout rate, which at nearly 8 percent is the highest in the state.
While the tough enforcement of classroom discipline may be putting more students on the street, Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. is not apologizing for a policy that forces students to toe the line or face the consequences.
In the 1993-94 school year, when the crackdown began, 1,042 students in Norfolk dropped out, many after being expelled or suspended for disruptive behavior.
``We've decided to take off the gloves as far as discipline,'' said Nichols, who took the helm of the school system in summer 1993. ``In the interest of students who are serious about getting an education, we've been suspending more kids.''
Norfolk's dropout rate of 7.9 percent was more than double the 1993-94 statewide rate of 3.5 percent, figures released recently by the state Department of Education show.
In South Hampton Roads, only the Portsmouth school district, with a dropout rate of 2.3 percent, fell below the state rate. Virginia Beach's was 5.2 percent, Suffolk 4.6 percent and Chesapeake 3.9 percent.
In South Hampton Roads, only Portsmouth and Suffolk had decreases in the percentage of dropouts from the previous year.
Norfolk's School Board for the past two school years has made maintaining safety and discipline its top priority - placing it above academic achievement and parental involvement.
The results are reflected in school statistics: In 1993-94, 944 students were either expelled or placed on long-term suspension, compared to 822 the previous year, an increase of 15 percent.
So far this school year, 361 students have been targeted for expulsion or long-term suspension, about 100 less than at the same time last year. Officials hope it's because students are heeding the strict discipline policy.
Portsmouth officials, faced with demographics similar to Norfolk's, can't point to anything specific that they're doing differently. Superintendent Richard Trumble has credited his system's low dropout rate to effective guidance counseling and aggressive efforts to track attendance problems before they become chronic.
Nichols acknowledged criticism of his approach. But he hopes it eventually will help lower a dropout rate that has inched upward for the past five years, after leveling off from an early 1980s high of nearly 16 percent.
``I really think this is one of those tough things we don't like to see but must go through to send a message to kids that we will tolerate no disruption of the school process,'' Nichols said. ``If those kids are not going to be there to get an education, we don't want them there disrupting the ones who are serious about it.''
Statistics show that 773 of Norfolk's dropouts in 1993-94 were black students, nearly 75 percent of the total. Blacks comprise 60 percent of the student body. Slightly more boys dropped out than girls.
Contributing to the dropout problem is a shortage of alternatives for students who can't seem to behave in a regular classroom. The city funds five off-site facilities for suspended or expelled students, but last year had space for only a third of the 944 students kicked out of school.
``We want safe schools - that's a given,'' Charlene L. Christopher, president of the Education Association of Norfolk, said. ``But when students get in trouble and are suspended, what is in place for them? There is a need for more al-ter-natives.''
Nichols said $309,903 is included in the 1995-96 budget to test an evening school that would accept problem kids. The school, which would start with about 100 students, is patterned after a successful program for 400 students at Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach.
Low academic performance also increases the dropout rate. Christopher and some school officials said the statewide Literacy Passport Test, implemented in 1989-90, may be partly to blame.
Students take the three-part test in sixth grade to gauge their skills in reading, writing and math. Beginning in 1996, they will not be able to graduate until they pass it. Currently, students who don't pass it by eighth grade can't be counted as ninth-graders or play high school sports, a big reason some kids stay in school, officials said.
``It's really the end of the career of some of these students because they get so frustrated,'' Christopher said.
Clyde Colwell, a Norfolk reading and language arts specialist who oversees a state-funded dropout prevention program called Project YES, said state assistance is vital. The General Assembly so far has blocked an attempt by Gov. George F. Allen to eliminate $10.5 million in dropout-prevention funds this year. But the governor could veto the action.
``I'd have to think the figures would be even higher if we didn't have something like Project YES,'' Colwell said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
DROPOUT RATES
1993-94 dropout rates for the state and cities in South Hampton
Roads:
Norfolk: 7.9%
Virginia Beach: 5.2%
Suffolk: 4.64%
Chesapeake: 3.97%
Portsmouth: 2.3%
Statewide average: 3.5%
Source: state Department of Education
by CNB