Questions for Paul Glennon, counselor for senior students Do you have any data or idea how many

y students have jobs?

There is no official data. There have been 75 kids that have signed up for PACE, where they get credit for working. (1 credit for working 15 hours a week or mor e). They have to fill out an essay and submit other paperwork. He said that most seniors in good standing dont take this class because they dont really need it, b ut rather most of the kids that are in it are the ones who are behind on credits . He guesses that out of 500 seniors, 100 of them are working. What is the dropout rate for the district? For the school?

Dropout rate is over 50%. This is different than the stats that I could find on the CDE website, which listed an overall dropout rate amongst the grades at arou nd 10%. I have a feeling that Paul Glennons numbers are more accurate, and are no t misleading data, as schools and the state often release. How do working students figure in to the dropout rate? Is it a major reason for dropping out? A lot of kids stay home in the Latino families because they have a number of sib lings and they want them to babysit. So, while they might not have an official jo b, they are at home working. There are kids at the school that have parents in pr ison and are at home by themselves. A lot of kids drop out because school does n ot meet their needs. Most kids do not know what they want to do. There is a lot of depression at ACHS. He asks, how would you feel if you had no idea what you wa nted to do? If no one in your family had ever graduated high school? If all your teachers retired three years ago and forgot to turn in the paper work?. There is not a lot of success coming out of Aurora Central, though they publish the succ ess. Last year, they set a record for $2 million in scholarships awarded to stu dents from Central. However, this is just a way to look good on paper because that number comes from a select number of students who wrote a bunch of essays and w on a lot of scholarships (though they went to one school and only used a small a mount of what they won). He says that this is a way that school districts make t hemselves look good on paper and sort of ignore the lack of success at their schoo l. He says, if you get down to the nuts and bolts of this office, a lot of kids a re unhappy. He says that there are tons of stories where kids are just on their o wn and have to make things work. They have no support from their parents (he poi nts out a picture on his wall of three little girls. They are the daughters of o ne of his former students, whose mother kicked her out of the house and told her she wouldnt take care of her kids. The student took six years, but ended up grad uating, an amazing achievement, though that is not the story for every student u nfortunately). Describe participation of families at Central.

He can generalize about family participation. At the first Back to School night this year, he saw the best attendance by parents in the last eight years of pare nt-teacher conferences. The reason, he thinks, is because the principal sent out a voice message to parents letting them know that their student was failing one or more class. The funny thing, though, is that there were no more than 100-120 parents that showed up for that night (out of 2200 students). They average arou nd 75 who show up, and normally it is the parents of the students who are doing quite well and the parents are looking for another affirmation (something they h ave probably been doing since kindergarten). He doesnt judge them thoughfor a lot of parents school was not a good experience for them. Most of these parents are d oing the best they can to survive and deal with everyday life. Also, a lot of par ents were working or taking care of their other kids. Plus, a lot of the parents

at Aurora Central dont speak English and couldnt understand the phone message, OR . a lot of students have moved between when they registered in May (he thinks a bout 25%). Transient population=about 800 out of 2200 that will move out between September and March and be replaced by another 800 kids=not good for test score s or classroom stability. Other discussion:

One of Paul Glennons students is living in a car and eating dog food. Pau l Glennons observations on refugees: they are very protective emotionally. You ha ve to build up a relationship with them before they will tell you anything. This has happened when he works with kids on their scholarship essays. They very rar ely ever cry, even though they have been through so much. He says that the Afric an kids form refugee camps are the hardest working kids in the school.