LAUSD Dropout Rate: Count the Parents

Re “Numbers Game,” Opinion, June 29: Howard Blume exposes another LAUSD conspiracy -- concealing dropout numbers in the district. He offers no viable solution for reducing the number of student dropouts. I work as dean of students at John Adams Middle School, which feeds into two neighborhood high schools, Manual Arts and Jefferson. My practical solution is to encourage parental participation, something I do on a daily basis. Over the past nine years, I have seen a direct correlation between student failure (and eventual dropout) and lack of parental involvement.

In most parent conferences, I get a blank look on the parent’s face when I ask him or her certain questions: Have you met all of your child’s friends? Do you review his or her homework? Have you met all of your child’s teachers? Have you ever sat in class and observed what is going on at school? The answer is usually no. The school system is partially responsible for the child’s education, but we desperately need the support of the parents. I cringe in horror when parents ask me if I can send their kid to “boot camp” for a few months, as if he or she is a broken TV set. A token effort by the parents to involve themselves in the lives of their children will go a long way in reducing the number of dropouts in the LAUSD.

John Charles Burdick

Los Angeles

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Your article about dropout rates is another reason for California to track individual students using a statewide identification system. If each student becomes trackable, we’ll move a long way toward reliable reporting of daily attendance; truthful and accurate reporting of test scores; better tracking of the effectiveness of instruction in the classroom; prompt transfer of student records from one agency to another; feedback to parents and law enforcement regarding behavior issues; and honesty and integrity in reporting dropout rates.

John Gremer

Long Beach