Suffolk focuses on those at-risk to curb dropouts

SUFFOLK

By 3 p.m. the halls of Lakeland High School were mostly quiet. A lone custodian swept away debris. Two teens leaned against lockers.

In classroom 113, however, the day wasn't done. Dayvon Gatling slouched in his chair, a geometry workbook open on his desk. He and five other students listened as teacher Alan Stein explained the Pythagorean theorem.

Every weekday, long after the final bell rings and the school parking lot clears, a handpicked group of about 50 students sticks around. They're behind in school, some by more than two years, and they desperately want to graduate - preferably on time.

"Being 18, 19, whatever age, seeing other people graduate before you, knowing you should have been a part of that class, it gets to you," said Gatling, a senior.

Administrators and teachers call this two-hour extended school day "Z Block," a pilot program new this fall to improve the school's lagging graduation and dropout rates.

"We wanted this program to be designed to address the kids with the greatest needs," Principal Thomas Whitley said. "To address the kids who are sometimes forgotten."

"This program gives them hope," he later added.

According to state data released last month, about 78 percent of Suffolk public school s' Class of 2009 - all the students who began ninth-grade for the first time in 2005 - graduated on time. Nearly 13 percent dropped out.

That's an improvement over 2008 numbers, but it's still not acceptable, school officials have said.

Of the division's three high schools, Lakeland and King's Fork account for the majority of dropouts.

At King's Fork, Principal Suzanne Moore launched the pilot program Freshman Academy this fall. She assigned four teachers more than 80 at-risk ninth-graders, students who previously earned poor grades and failed one Standards of Learning test or more.

"The overall goal is to make sure they become sophomores," Moore said.

The classes are smaller, and the students spend most of their day with the same peers. Besides the core curriculum, they learn life skills, such as goal-setting and financial literacy. The instructors try different teaching methods and meet individually with students to talk about their grades.

"I'm getting a lot more work in on time," said English teacher Frankie Winchester. "They're actually seeing their grade - what it is and what it can be."

Across the board, the students are achieving at the same levels as those in regular classes, said science teacher Mark Parsons.

At Lakeland, Whitley said he's seen the same success with Z Block. Participants signed contracts at the beginning of the year pledging to attend and do their best. Their guidance counselors and parents agreed to be supportive.

"The grades that I'm seeing thus far indicate that they're taking it seriously," Whitley said.

Gatling, 19, sees the program as an opportunity. He's never liked school, and there were days when he wouldn't show up. Ninth grade was the worst, Gatling said. He failed several classes that year.

Gatling considered dropping out but decided against it. He plans to join the Navy, and he didn't want to settle for a GED.

"Now it's just the fact that I know I need to succeed, get out," Gatling said of what's driving him.

He went to summer school and enrolled in Z Block to get caught up. There are days he doesn't want to stay after school, Gatling said, but he does, and he ends up having a good time. "I do go to the board more now," he said. "I do ask more questions."

On a recent afternoon, the students in Gatling 's geometry class took turns scribbling problems on the chalkboard. He tackled one of the hardest, an equation with fractions.

"You set it up correctly," said Stein, who was filling in for the regular teacher. "But you've got to make sure you have parentheses around the whole number."

Craig Woodus, one of Gatling 's classmates, said he's buckling down so he can earn a football scholarship. The varsity player scraped by with C's and D's in ninth and 10th grades.

Woodus' mindset changed last school year, when his coach and the athletic director said he needed better grades to get into college. The recruiters he's talked to have also encouraged him to do his part.

"That's why I just changed my whole focus," said Woodus, 18, now a senior.

"My grades are good right now," he said. "They're probably the best they've ever been."

Z Block classes last one semester, so students in the program can earn two additional credits by June. This fall, students are taking algebra, geometry and English.

The largest class has 18 students, said biology teacher Catherine Walsh, the administrative intern for Z Block. A few students are having attendance issues, she said, but most are on time, motivated and willing to participate.

"They're choosing to be there," Walsh said. "They're realizing the opportunity that's come to them."

Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com