For Immediate Release: Contact:
September 4, 2009 Scot Byrd, Economic Development Director
Phone: (225) 638-3500
Email: pointecoupeechamber@yahoo.com
Pointe Coupee Leaders Join Together to Reduce Dropout Rate in Parish
NEW ROADS, LA- Key educational, civic and business leaders met Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at Pointe Coupee Central High School for the first Pointe Coupee Parish Dropout Prevention Summit. Representatives from the parishes private, parochial and public schools, Pointe Coupee Sherriff’s Office, 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Pointe Coupee Chamber of Commerce, Pointe Coupee Parish Constables, City of New Roads’ Mayor’s Office and many others were in attendance.
The summit, hosted by the Pointe Coupee Chamber of Commerce, was designed to bring key leaders of Pointe Coupee Parish to the table, which have a vested interest in improving educational options for our students, and create a task force that will actively implement solutions to drastically reduce the dropout rate in our parish. On the agenda were presentations by Reverend James Smith, a truancy officer from Rayville, Louisiana; John Warner Smith with Education’s Next Horizon, Assistant District Attorney, Marty Maley, and Dr. Michael Eskridge with ADVANCE Baton Rouge who shared with the group their programs for dropout and truancy prevention.
The Pointe Coupee Parish Dropout Prevention Summit is the next-step in a state-wide initiative, led by Education’s Next Horizon, to reduce truancy and the number of student dropouts. Pointe Coupee Parish’s current public school dropout rate is approximately seven percent and is attributed to a number of factors such as truancy, behavior, school engagement, academic performance and family background.
The next step for the dropout prevention task force is to send surveys to all principals in Pointe Coupee Parish to poll them on the factors that contribute to their school’s dropout rate and realistic solutions that they can bring to the table to help solve the problem. Additionally, the task force will work to establish commitments from the Parish’s educational, civic and governmental leaders to enforce laws and policies regarding truancy and student dropouts.
The taskforce will reconvene on Thursday, October 22, at 8:00am at Pointe Coupee Central High School. If you interested in joining the task force, or have an idea you want to share with them, please contact Scot Byrd with the Pointe Coupee Chamber of Commerce at pointecoupeechamber@yahoo.com.
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