Dropout prevention begins in the early grades with attention to students who fall behind.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published August 29, 2004
[Times photo: Kinfay Moroti]
Clearwater Intermediate School sixth-graders Michael Bastian, 12, left, and Sampson Lamar, 12, center, listen to their teacher Eileen Long while working in August on statements of personal goals.
OVERVIEW: The Pinellas school district's department of dropout prevention serves about 12,500 students in school programs annually. The programs range from academic support for struggling students to intervention for children in residential juvenile justice programs.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PROGRAMS: More than 50 elementary schools offer Students Targeted for Achievement, Recognition and Success, or STARS, for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders who are showing signs of academic failure. Additionally, the Alpha Center program at Blanton Elementary School, 6400 54th Ave. N in St. Petersburg, serves struggling fourth- and fifth-graders from Blanton, Clearview Avenue, Cross Bayou, Pinellas Park, Rawlings, Seventy-fourth Street and Skyview elementary schools.
MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAMS: The Model School Achievement Program is offered at all middle schools for students who are academic underachievers or who are not meeting grade level expectations. A program called Disciplinary Education Learning to Achieve serves fourth- and fifth-graders placed by referral or reassignment. Additionally, two intermediate schools - Lealman Intermediate, 4100 35th St. N, and Clearwater Intermediate, 1220 Palmetto St. - help fifth- through eighth-graders who need intense academic intervention to meet grade-level expectations.
HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS: High school students who are academic underachievers or potential dropouts are served at each school through High School Educational Alternative Programs. Additional high school dropout prevention programs are available at the two Pinellas Technical Education Centers, 901 34th St. S in St. Petersburg and 6100 154th Ave. N in Clearwater, and Seminole Vocational Education Center, 12611 86th Ave. N. Brand-new Bayside High School, 4730 145th Ave. N in Clearwater (temporarily at 896 Union St. in Dunedin), is a long-term alternative school for ninth- through 12th-graders who are behind in credits as a result of excessive truancy and who are overage for their grade level, as well as those making the transition from secondary discipline schools. Students may or may not have discipline problems in addition to their academic challenges.
SECONDARY DISCIPLINE SCHOOLS: North Ward Secondary School, 327 11th Ave. N in St. Petersburg, and Safety Harbor Secondary School, 675 Elm St., provide positive behavior changing programs for sixth- through eighth-grade students who have violated School Board policy. Norwood Secondary School, 2154 27th Ave. N, and PTEC-South Secondary, 901 34th St. S, both in St. Petersburg, serve similar students in grades 9-12.
TEENAGE PARENTING PROGRAMS: Voluntary educational programs with a specialized curriculum that help students who are pregnant or who are parents and remain in school are offered at several schools. Parenting classes and child care are provided.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call the district's office of dropout prevention, (727) 588-6069.
