Group Moves to Stem Dropout Rate : Support of 2 Programs Aims at Boosting Private Business’ Efforts

Efforts by private business to improve education in San Diego received a major boost Friday when officials of the area’s joint business-labor-school community consortium announced they will focus on two major programs to stem dropouts and promote parent education.

The chairman of the San Diego Compact, speaking at the close of a two-day conference on at-risk students, said the group will give major backing to two projects:

- The Dropout Prevention and Recovery Center that started this fall at the Bandini Center of the San Diego Unified School District. Teachers give students about to drop out a semester of individual instruction and a part-time job before attempting to place them back at their regular junior or senior high school.

Will Provide Role Models

The compact will provide role models, or mentors, who will “adopt” the students on a one-on-one basis so the student will have someone to turn to after he or she leaves the family-type structure of the Bandini program and returns to the regular school.

Researchers say the emphasis on boosting self-esteem and social values of an at-risk student is as important as improving academic skills. The Private Industry Council, which is one component of the compact, has already put almost $300,000 into the Bandini Center.

- The parent education academies that are run for four to six weeks at various schools by the Rev. Vahac Mardirosian. Principals at several schools, particularly those with a high number of Latino students, have praised the Parent Institute for Quality Education for teaching parents not only how to understand and use the educational bureaucracy to the advantage of their children, but also how better to raise their children at home.

“The message hasn’t gotten through to enough people that business must get involved locally,” that donations to educational institutions by national corporations are not enough, said Bill Nelson, chairman of the compact and of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

The compact chose the Bandini Center and the parent institute after San Diego city schools Supt. Tom Payzant identified them as two promising programs that could help schools in both the short and long term.

“The (Bandini) program could show results quickly, and, while the parent education programs may be more difficult to measure in terms of success, we want to work hard in this area as well,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s announcement capped two days of seminars and colloquia sketching both the latest theories on how to prevent students from dropping out and some of the programs that appear to work, as well as appealing for community assistance to the schools.

The conference was designed in large part to give impetus to more substantial private-business involvement with schools, beyond the current partnership arrangements that in many cases do not have a major focus on pressing issues of curriculum, at-risk students or self-esteem.

The theme of community involvement was stressed during an earlier session Friday by Payzant, who said the public must approach education as a civic as well as a parental responsibility.

Chamber President Lee Grissom warned the audience that San Diego’s increasing economic diversity--particularly in biotechnology and computer-related industry--depends in large part on the reputation of area schools and universities. Without an educated pool of talent, such companies will go elsewhere, he said.

Herb Cawthorne, director of the Urban League of San Diego, said business and the community must also put pressure on school districts to get rid of incompetent teachers and administrators when necessary.