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School chaos: Truancy isn't just money

Mr.Wilson (below) may not be happy with the facts, but I was proven right. Sullivan County and Kingsport got nailed by the No Child Left Behind federal mandate. Two of the high schools I and parents indentified as major problems got failing grades. To quote, "Kingsport, Bristol, Sullivan County, Washington County, Hawkins County and Hancock County all failed as school districts to meet test proficiency requirements for economically disadvantaged or special education students, or failed because of attendance records."

In Sullivan County, Director of Schools John O'Dell said six of his schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress. Those schools are Blountville Elementary, Ketron Middle, Mary Hughes, Sullivan East, Sullivan North and Weaver Elementary.

Update January 2005: Our new director Glenn Arwood wants to send elementary students to troubled Sullivan North to boost enrollment.

Add this in with money woes and a huge enrollment drop, who knows what will happen next.

Kingsport Times-News June 26, 2003

Re: "Sullivan County Truancy Program Gets Reprieve'' (June 20), just dumping outside social problems into the school system results in chaos in the schools and hurts other students. As a teacher and volunteer tutor, it's time to face the facts that money and teacher certifications won't fix.

I looked into parent complaints about Sullivan North and Sullivan Central. Data from the county Web site revealed 15 percent of the students from both schools have been expelled or suspended, suggesting a severe lack of control. High levels of free and reduced lunches directly indicate income status, which impacts discipline and academic achievement.

Sullivan East had the worst academic record with 32 percent of students on free lunch; South was by far the best in all categories with 11.7 percent on free lunch.

Condom usage, teenage mothers, after school jobs, sports, and religion are not school problems. Eighty percent of parents rejected school time change (Bristol, Tenn.) placing sports over education. If education is such a low priority, what are schools supposed to do? Turn social problems back over to police and welfare departments.

Accusations of teacher abuse and sexual misconduct seem ignored by local authorities. It's time to instill control and accountability. In the schools, strict rules must be followed including dress codes, bar student vehicles from campus, etc. Those suspended or expelled go to juvenile detention. Crack down on after school jobs. In a local store we had two 15-year-old girls working the counter while smoking. If they drop out of school, no driver's license. I can't believe the claims of students don't have to take final exams for not missing school. End social promotions. Fine and jail irresponsible parents and remove children from dysfunctional homes.

The No Child Left Behind Act is a joke unless we deal with outside social problems that schools often can't fix. Three million dollars in additional cuts won't help.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, Va.

Please note that I'm attempting to update and compare data on the table below. For some reason the information has been removed from the school website. I've e-mailed officials they refuse to release the information.
All data compiled from Sullivan County Schools website 2003.
Sullivan School North Central South East
Enrollment 782 938 1107 1065
Race, white 100% 100% 98.6% 99.2%
Free/reduced lunch 26.2% 19.2% 11.7% 31.5%
Suspended/expelled 118 or 15.1% 135 or 14.4% 86 or 7.8% 110 or 10.3%
11th grade writing B B B C
ACT D C B D
SAT B B A C
Math C B B C
Language Arts B A A B
Both C C B D

Preposterous

In response to Lewis Loflin's letter, "School Chaos'' June 26, I cannot understand his logic when he says, "High levels of free and reduced lunches directly indicate income status, which impacts discipline and academic achievement."

The first part of that statement is lucid, but the latter is just preposterous. I know of many people that I attended school with that had a low socioeconomic status, but this did not make them uneducated or juvenile delinquents. Actually, some of these people were the ones that attended colleges on academic scholarships that now employ people like you and me.

These are the people that have to work for what they get instead of just having everything handed to them. Can you honestly say that you worked for everything you have gained? They can.

Eric Wilson
Blountville

Copyright July 1, 2003 Kingsport Times-News.

Schools and poverty

Re. Eric Wilson's letter July 1, income and poverty do affect children and is carried into the schools. Nobody said all people of low socioeconomic status fail, but studies in England and Canada say the impact is significant and point out the U.S. uses race to cover up what are really income and cultural problems. Race does not apply here, and middle class black kids are just as smart as middle class white kids.

Fifty percent of adults in Tennessee never finished high school - in Northeast Tennessee only 12 percent finished college. This is almost identical with Dickenson County, Va. This region is plagued with many of the same social problems as inner cities.

Every Sullivan County high school with a 20 percent or greater free lunch poverty indicator has high levels of discipline and academic problems. Southwest Virginia schools are much the same.

Bristol has a 42 percent child poverty rate while wasting millions on an old train station. According to firstbook.org, parental illiteracy directly impacts children's academic performance, jobs, crime, welfare, income, etc. Add in this region's appalling income gap and low-wage job structure and we have serious problems. "It all comes back to jobs,'' says Steve Fisher, director of the Appalachian Center for Community Services at Emory & Henry College. This region is plagued with chronic under-employment and under pay even for college graduates. That is why so many leave here.

The only way to reverse this school mess is to spend much more on education, which society is not willing or able to do, leaving few alternatives. By the way, I grew up on free lunch. Hanging silly religious plaques in local courthouses while closing schools is just what we need.

Lewis Loflin
Bristol, Va.

August 5 2003 Kingsport Times-News.

Sullivan County truancy program gets reprieve

Sullivan County's truancy intervention program for K-12 students has been able to survive unscathed this budget year with full funding from the state. The program keeps track of habitual student absences in elementary, middle and high schools, would have been eliminated had the state made the cuts first projected.

"Truancy is the earliest and most obvious course for delinquency. ... This program affected children in the early stages - not just high school. The truancy officer could get in a home and find out that the state needs to be involved. There is a proven correlation between early childhood truancy and future juvenile and adult delinquency. Without a truancy intervention program more children would slip through the cracks, eventually committing crimes that would cost the state more in the long run.

One of the stipulations of accountability for the No Child Left Behind Act being implemented in Tennessee is making sure schools keep their attendance percentage up. Not funding a truancy intervention program is a bad mark for the state and will also hurt in future federal funding, Jones added. Extract June 20, 2003 Kingsport Times-News.

Enrollment drop unwelcome surprise for Sullivan County school officials

August 23, 2003, Times-News extract. KINGSPORT - With two weeks of classes under their belt, Sullivan County schools are reporting a loss of about 450 students this year compared to the end of the 2002-2003 school year. That could spell a major loss in state and local funding if the numbers stay the same during the remainder of the school year. Sullivan County Finance Manager Harry Trent said state per-pupil funding could go down as much as $1 million if the enrollment remains down, and that doesn't even include the decrease in local funding.

 


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