DROPOUTS NEED HELP, NOT A LAW TO KEEP THEM IN SCHOOL

Another View

HOW MANY New Hampshire residents know that Senate Bill 268, the
governor's proposal to raise the dropout age to 18, has already been
approved by the Senate and is on its way to a House vote tomorrow?
If this legislation passes and takes effect in September 2008, the
only communities that will receive funding for alternative education
programs will be Manchester and Nashua, for a total of $1.2 million
over two years.

Along the way to this bill becoming law, few legislators have spoken
to the students and the people in the "trenches," who are the
administrators, teachers and guidance professionals in our schools.
If they had spoken to us, they would discover that the dropout rate
would actually increase because every other community besides
Manchester and Nashua will fund this mandate based on local control.

To raise the number of students staying in school until age 18,
Granite Staters need to know why students drop out. The major factor
is the use and abuse of illegal substances by students and their
parents or guardians. But how many school districts have a "student
assistance counselor"? The state's Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Prevention has been closed for several years. A K-12 alcohol and
drug education program is needed in every school district because
substance abuse education does indeed work, but someone has to
create these programs, fund them, train the educators and teach the students.

Are school districts going to hire additional elementary, middle and
high school teachers to reduce class sizes? Will each school
district hire enough guidance staff to reduce student caseloads
so counselors actually know each student well? Is the state going
to release enough money so each school district can hire school
district social workers to work with dysfunctional families to bring
them together?

Based upon the history of education funding in my lifetime and
professional career, New Hampshire will not step forward and fund
needed money for our children. All of us remember an educator who
positively influenced us to take a risk, dream a dream and "go for
it." No matter how times change, today's New Hampshire students
respond to a human being's genuine caring and encouragement of their
academic or career plan.

"Personalization" was the main theme in the January 2005 education
summit when Gov. John Lynch took office. Yet in New Hampshire, a
student who leaves high school and attains a GED is considered a
dropout! Is not a GED a completion of an educational goal that
allows access to our exemplary two-year Community and
Technical College System? Why does New Hampshire call this child a dropout?

Any educator wants all of our students to stay in school until age
18 and graduate and seek further education or reputable employment.
Without a comprehensive and collaborative effort to help our
neediest children, raising the dropout age to 18 will be nothing
more than another false promise for all cities and towns in our great state.

Michael Dolphin of Manchester is the guidance director at
Londonderry High School.