After-school program helps failing students

• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: May 13, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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DENHAM SPRINGS — A series of absences kept junior Heather Thompson, 17, from receiving credit in the fall for her English III class at Denham Springs High School.

Brandi Morris, 16, a junior at Denham Springs High, straightforwardly admitted it was pretty much her fault when asked why she failed geometry in the fall semester.

“It’s everything. I just didn’t want to do anything,” Morris said.

While two causes brought Morris and Thompson to Denham Springs High on afternoons this spring after everyone else had gone home, they both had the same reason for being there.

“I didn’t want to spend my summer at school again,” Morris said.

She and Thompson participated this spring in the 2-year-old credit recovery program the Livingston Parish school system started to help high school students make up credits for classes they failed in the fall.

The program, which is funded this year through a $250,000 state grant that is also helping pay for new summer school offerings, is part of the school system’s efforts to reduce the dropout rate throughout the parish, said Patty Dumiller, secondary supervisor for parish schools.

The classes are part of ongoing high school redesign efforts and were originally spearheaded by former school administrator Dawn Pope. A few other school districts are trying their own versions of credit recovery, including Tangipahoa Parish public schools, which started a more-focused program this year.

In Livingston Parish, classes were held twice a week since January for two hours per day at Denham Springs and Albany high schools. Students had to pay a $60 fee, and 255 students enrolled this year.

Classes in English, algebra I, algebra I part I, geometry, physical science and biology were offered, school materials show.

Dumiller said that in helping students catch up on what they missed in fall, credit recovery also helps them keep up with their peers in the spring instead of falling further behind. That gives them a better chance to pass for the year, helping prevent dropouts, she said.

Anthony Clark, 18, a junior at Denham Springs High, was taking the same English III class with Thompson this spring.

Clark, who works part-time at a restaurant during the week and on weekends, said earlier this month the class helped him this spring.