Portsmouth, Suffolk have two of Va.'s highest dropout rates

No one wants to admit the real truth. The schools with the highest dropout rates are predominantly black. It's a trend that only the black community can effectively address with their kids. If you think this is a racist statement check the figures with the school systems and they will prove me right! The highest dropout rates and the highest crime rates are among young blacks. It's not pretty but it is the truth.

Parental involvement at Nansemond River is high, the principal is very involved as is many of the teachers. If you look at the schools in other cities, you'll find the same holds true. The schools that have greater parental involvement have less problems and a lower drop out rate. Point is, PARENTS are what can make the difference. Is your kid failing? Is your kid a behavior problem? Is your more concerned about being "cool" and what the newest "in" little gang symbol is than they are concerned about their grades? Is the only involvement you really have in your kids education just agreeing with the kid that the teachers are picking on him or her? When was the last time you looked at your kids homework? When was the last time you talked with your kids teacher? What chores or other task do you give your kid? What expectations do you have of your kid? Don't blame the drop out rates on the teachers, the schools or anyone else until YOU do YOUR part. I was terrible in school myself, that's why I stayed on top of both my kids. One is a college student that graduated with honors from high school and the other is all honors classes in high school now.

Where do you draw the line? Who do you have to look to for inspiration?
Parents work/in either the military, DOD contractor, city or municipality. The rest? How many strip malls do we have? Paying those "High" wages? Education and what it leads to begins in the home. I know teens that think the only way "out" is sports, american idol or being a gangster. The military or college does not even factor into the equation. Look at Portsmouth! The city itself! The "look" and "feel" of an urban slum. Look at the RTP/North Carolina schools. You have companies investing in school programs. Teaching hard science. Practicing tough love! Look at Chesapeake-Offering Nail Salon technology in high school? That was such a great idea and a real money saver. Didn't have to buy computers or plan a tech infrastructure. All of the cities and towns listed with high drop out rates-Parents, politicians and educators are to blame! Graduate with a 2.0? Unheard of in my day! I guess you don't want your kids intelligent-you want them like low wage earning sheep!

But with the way our puppet mayor is stealing education funding to satisfy is repayment for a developer bought election, I can bet the numbers will change.

I'm sure LD students rolled into the numbers. It is not likely that they account for a large percentage of this group. As for dropouts in private school, you've missed the point. The majority of students are there because their parent(s) made the choice for them. The academia is no nonsense. The rules are clear. Misbehavior and distraction are not accepted. Students know the boundries. The problem in public schools is the lack of discipline and respect for authority from a number of students. Troublesome kids cannot be handled properly. Their parent(s) fail to hold them accountable. The teachers and administration cannot deal with these kids because their hands are tied by PC police. The school board and city council have their hands out to the feds. All control comes out of DC and the board of education. 'No Child Left Behind' is a joke. Some kids are destined to be ditch diggers and crack dealers. At least social service workers will always have a job helping the new 'subsidized' citizens fill out forms for housing and food.

I wonder-what is the drop out rate for the private schools in the area?

What I'd like to know is how the educational level of the parents factors in to the equation. If the parents didn't finish high school and that is the child's frame of reference and "normal" to that child...then dropping out doesn't carry a stigma or seem like a crazy thing to do.

Isn't that the whole reason for outreach programs for the "first in family" to go to college?

Ok, let me see if I get this. Last week the Justice Department said the fire deptartment discriminates by hiring an independent testing company to administer their BASIC entrance emam and not enough black people pass. Then this week we see Portsmouth has one of the highest dropout rates in the entire state and the superintendent says one of the main reasons students drop out is because they don't read well. Then how do they expect to pass a basic entrance exam? I guess the Justice Deptartment will now make Portsmouth give away diplomas so we can get the minority dropout rates up and award the failing students monetary compensation from the 145k settlement fund because their feelings were hurt. Sounds fair to me!

After reading the previous comments I have some.

First - Parents need to stop blaming the school system to cover up their irresponsibility as a parent. My parents warned me early on there would be no sports, after school work, after school fun, weekend fun, anything until my school work was completed to the best of my ability. I was held accountable. I had to ask for extra work just to pass some classes or no priviliges. They basically hovered over me and my school work. Yes, I played sports. I earned the right by fulfilling my responsibility to my parents, my school and teachers, and myself. Same issue should still apply today. This also taught me the 'teacher was always right'. The kids you raise today allowed, by parents, to question authority and fight back against teachers. Remember, when you point a finger, 3 more are pointing back at you. This 'Woe is me, I'm underprivelieged and my child needs a break'crap only enforces your childs failure. The easy way out letting society raise your kids, the 'friendlier parenting methods, the 'don't do that to my child' defensiveness does not work. You will fail. I raised my children well. Yes, when they were younger th

First off, cutting money to the school district of Portsmouth will not do any good report445. The reason for the problems have some to do with the attitudes of the parents and children but also with not having extra programs and the money not being used to properly support the teachers. The teachers of Portsmouth are dedicated. You have to be, getting paid under what all other districts pay their teachers, counselors, and support staff.
The standards are high to graduate from high school in Portsmouth. I don't see Virginia Beach high schools holding back a student from graduating with a 1.5. Thats sad and sick. In Portsmouth you have to have a 2.0 GPA to graduate. What good is a high school diploma when you have a 1.5 GPA. Even employers look down on that. There are colleges that will take a student at a 2.0, I have yet to find a 4 year college that will take a 1.5 student.
What also counted against the school districts were when students moved and they never told the school. Believe me when I say that tracking students that went to other schools in other states is time consuming and almost impossible.
Portsmouth should not be looked down on and taking away funding

Look around the country, not just our area. There are plenty of public schools prospering. They don't have better teachers. They don't have better facilities (in many cases). What they do have is a MUCH lower population of subsidized citizens. What they do have is a willingness to turn down a federal dollar to maintain control over their own destiny. What they do have is VERY limited and MOST often NO subsidized housing to attract people that are generational leeches. The kids that are failing and dropping out predominantly come from homes of single parents where a father figure has NEVER resided. I have section 8 living next to me. If I understand it correctly, none of these kids have the same father. Mom is rarely home. Kids have no phone or house key. THIS IS THE PROBLEM we face! While there is always an exception, NO child will perform well in school without the proper guidance and support of a parent that understands how important an education is! Thank God I can afford private school. My child is so much better for it!

As a parent currently dealing with this frustration I believe that most of the problem lies within the structure of the school systems. I agree that many parents fall short of their parental obligations. However today’s society is so concerned about being politically correct that the teachers & administrators are unable to enforce any type of effective discipline. Students who have no goals are disruptive because they know that they can be, while the students that are there to learn spend much of their class time being either entertained or frustrated by these exhibitions. The racial tensions and high student-to-teacher ratio contributes to this over stimulating, non-productive environment. Unless students are high achievers they are subject to becoming one of these statistics. So unless your child has an IEP or is in the “it” crowd you pretty much have a 50/50 chance of them not reaching their critical breaking point over the course of their 4 years. I suggest serious restructuring. These kids need a more mentoring type system, something that empowers the students (& teachers), not a system that encourages bad behavior.

Could it be that parents today don't know how to be parents? Who taught them? Also,are LD students included in this? There is no test for future parents to take that shows an ability to raise kids "right". You can't drill a hole in there heads (parents and kids) and pour this knowledge into them. This must be very frustrating for the educators!!

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. How can you force someone to value their education or themselves? When parents don't care, the student does not care. One does not have to look any further. What a waste.

When my daughter graduated in 2005 only about 1/2 of the class met the requirements to walk the stage and graduate. Asking a few questions I learned that a LARGE PERCENTAGE of 9th graders don't even make it to 10th grade, either dropping out or failing. This is not a new problem nor is this a problem that rests with the kids. Wake up Suffolk and look inside... A friend once said "nothing good ever came out of Suffolk schools". While he meant that NSA was better than any public school in Suffolk he did have a point. Nothing good really comes out as most drop out or don't graduate. I was one of the lucky parents - she's now graduating college with a degree in Biology.

Portsmouth can cut the school budget by 20% since 1 out of 5 are dropping out. Maybe the City Manager can cut the tax increase from 8 cents to about 6 cents. No matter how much money you throw down that bottomless pit called Portsmouth Public Schools, the results are going to be the same.

Per the article, "Students who left school without graduating or finishing an approved education program were considered dropouts", which means that any student removed from the public school system and placed in private school, homeschooling or another education option is also considered a dropout. And, while it could be considered true that those students did indeed "drop out" of public school, they did not cease their education. Do the public school systems track those students and remove them from their dropout count? If not, the numbers presented are not an accurate assessment of the situation.

The focus is on what happens “at Virginia schools.” Schools do not function in a vacuum and they are not factories that can control the quality of input. Schools can only improve on what parents deliver to the schoolhouse door. With our welfare state we have created a cycle of dependency and undermined motivation among parents to raise children who become responsible citizens. Why should adults and children strive to be responsible if there are no natural consequences for their irresponsible behavior? Why should children bother with school when government will provide for their every need?

I'd bet the demographics mirror the career unemployment and incarceration crowd. Yet we wonder what the problem is. We can throw all the money we want at education but if the parents aren't involved in their kids lives and forcing them to do well, the problem will continue. It's the old saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

Alright, now let's cross-reference these stats with how much money is donated, publicly and privately, and how much direct funding goes to the public schools in these cities. O wait that might expose some actual truth! And it would make the story less about victimization, and more about policy/approach. We can't have either of those results! :)