Any figures?

However, I read in a Georgia magazine that 90% of the students who enroll as a freshman on a Hope scholarship never graduate.

Problem is, they are not able to pass college courses, even remedial courses, and drop out.

This holds true for most Georgia schools, Hope scholarship or not. A good figure to know is how many UCHS grads go on to college, how many have to take remedial college college courses and how many actually graduate from college. Again, this is not an indictment of UCHS but a North Georgia problem in general.

Another question, why is UCHS on the "needs room for improvement list or under performing list for the State of Ga? Read the Supertendent's column in the NGN of 2or 3 weeks ago on school performance and read it very closely as the writing has been very carefully worded and spun.He tries to explain why UCHS is on the "needs improvement list and blames it on absentism.There is a lot of sand around if one wants to stick their head in it.

The report I read said that the HOPE Scholarship had not been able to accomplish the main thing it was designed for - getting lower income kids through college. When they analyzed the numbers, they found that upper income kids were better able to take advantage of the scholarship because they were better prepared educationally and had better support systems in place. The irony was that the upper income families who could afford college on their own were able to not have to pay for it because of the HOPE.

There are not very many (if any) states that even have such a thing as the HOPE Scholarship. Some families relocate to Georgia just to take advantage of it.

I just wondered what role the HOPE plays for local kids.

http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ayp2010/overview.asp?SchoolID=744-0000-b-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-8-0-0

What are these absent students doing while they are absent from school? If there are health, family, home problems, are these being addressed properly?

It's a tough economy that these students are facing now and will have to face upon leaving high school.

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xy, the school does all they can to get the kids to attend school, but attendance last year was a little worse than normal with the swine flu and other stuff going around. The first ten absences a student has can be counted as excused if the parent writes a note saying the student was absent because of one of the valid excuses written in the handbook. After the tenth absence they have to have a doctor's note in order for the absence to be excused. If a student is absent more than seven days for any reason, excused or unexcused, the school sends a letter of concern to the student's parents. If a student has five or more unexcused absences the parents get a certified letter reminding them of the school's attendance policy. If a student has more than seven unexcused absences a meeting is scheduled with the parents and the Attendance Support Team, and the parents are notified of the meeting via certified letter. At the meeting a contract is made that states what the school needs to do and what the parents need to do to remedy the problem, and it is decided whether or not to refer the case to the truancy court. The school social worker tries to correct the attendance issues before they get to the point of going to truancy court and if there are needs that the family has that prevents the kids from attending school regularly, she does a good job of getting those needs met as soon as she is aware of them.

Edited by - meg on 10/16/2010 6:25:26 PM

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It boils down to a simple fact--family and family structure and attitude.If a family has a history of no graduates and education is not a priority, the child will be absent many many times. It is a social ill that has festered for many years and all the letters, threats and punishments will never solve the problem. It is going to take a long time to overcome the overriding cause-family attitudes and social mores.

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Shucks, you're right about that.

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