TOLMAN HAS HIGH DROP OUT RATE

PAWTUCKET -- Tolman High School had the fourth highest dropout rate in the
state last year, according to new data from the Rhode Island Department of
Education.

The state issued findings this week that measure a variety of student
factors called learning support indicators.

Tolman's dropout rate was 34.9 percent while Shea High School's rate was
26.5 percent.

The only schools with higher dropout rates than Tolman are Hope, Central
and Alternative Learning Program High Schools in Providence.

School Committee Chairman Raymond Spooner said he wasn't surprised that
Tolman students are prone to quitting school before graduation.

"We'd like them to stay in school. We'd like them to learn, but obviously
there's a motivating factor that makes students either want to learn or
not, and that's not necessarily related to the school department," he said.
"There are bigger societal factors at play here."

Spooner said he couldn't explain why Tolman students are more likely than
their peers at Shea to drop out.

The committee chairman did saythat both he and Superintendent Hans Dellith
have looked into creating a special alternative school for troubled
students, but the School Department hasn't had the money or space for such
an undertaking.

"We don't have an alternative program. We have a plan for it, but we just
don't have money for it," he said.

Tolman students were also absent from school 12.1 percent of the time,
while Shea students missed 9.9 percent of school time.

The state also issued the results of student surveys that listed how many
students reported being offered drugs in school.

At Tolman, 32 percent of students said someone tried to sell them drugs
while only 16 percent of Shea students said the same thing.

Spooner said he wasn't putting much stock in the student surveys.

"That number at Shea is the lowest but that's one of the schools where we
had the most calls for drug problems this year, so I don't put a lot of
credence in those numbers," he said.

Pawtucket school officials have plenty of experience dealing with state
reports such as this. Earlier this year the state categorized all but two
city schools as "low performing."

Spooner said the school district's success can't always be measured in hard
numbers.

"We don't have a lot of high-performing schools, but when you look at these
academic competitions we always do very well against other schools in the
state,..so I think sometimes that the numbers don't tell the whole story,"
he said.

The state's middle schools were included in the report as well. In
Pawtucket, 20 percent of students at Goff Junior High School said they were
offered drugs at school. That number went down to 15 percent and 8 percent
respectively at Jenks and Slater middle schools.

At Central Falls High School, 19 percent of students reported that someone
tried to sell them drugs. The dropout rate there was 30.8 percent.

Davies Career and Technical High School in Lincoln had a dropout rate of
15.4 percent and 24 percent of students reported being offered drugs.

At Lincoln High School, the dropout rate was 1.5 percent and 31 percent of
students said someone tried to sell them drugs.