SWHS Tiger-TV Parent / Volunteer Interview

Photo by: Steven Griffin, Spring Woods High School Student

Spring Branch volunteers knocked on 160 home and apartment doors Sept. 8 as concerned residents joined with teachers and students in Expectation Graduation, the city’s annual Reach Out to Dropouts Walk, also known as Expectation Graduation.

SBISD joined the 4-year-old regional effort for the first time this year.

On a hot, humid Saturday morning, more than 100 volunteers knocked on the doors of students who had not returned to Spring Woods and Northbrook high schools.

Where students or families with school-age students were found, personal invitations and information were offered to help them return to school. In the end, more than a dozen students expressed an interest in returning and earning high school diplomas.

Spring Woods High parent volunteer Desiree Teasdale knocked on apartment and townhouse doors along Long Point and Campbell with school Assistant Principal Horacio Fernandez.

Desiree, who attended Spring Woods High, hope to deliver a personal message.

A parent volunteer speaks out

“A long, long time ago, I unfortunately was a dropout myself. I chose to get a GED because I had my daughter. I ended up joining the Army, then I got out and went back to school,” she said. Today, Desiree is attending Houston Community College. She plans to graduate from the University of Houston, and begin a teaching career.

“I’m very proud that the school district is doing something like this to help people, even if they are in bad circumstances,” she also said.

Desiree has a strong message for struggling young people. “If you are thinking of dropping out, before you do, talk to someone. There are so many resources out there. The resources they have opposed to 10 or 15 years ago is astronomical,” she said. “Never, ever, ever let anyone let you drop out. Know that there is someone there for you.”

In front of one apartment door along Long Point, Assistant Principal Fernandez encouraged a 12th-grader to return to the high school. “We’d love to have her back, and she’d like to return, but we learned that she needs to fix a few things first,” he said after his brief visit.

Spring Woods High staff and administrators scoured returning student files to weed out those who had moved or transferred to other schools from those who might be dropouts. In the end, said Assistant Principal Kaye Estrada, only 35 homes or apartments remained question marks. Teams of volunteers visited these addresses.

Spring Woods High volunteers rose early Saturday. They took part in a 7:30 a.m. training before heading out in small teams. Principal Wayne Schaper Jr. encouraged them to “help us find kids who have lost their way, help them to make the decision to find their way back to education.”

The volunteer group gathered there included at least three SBISD Board of Trustees members, Wayne Schaper Sr., Dr. David Converse and Mary Grace Landrum; former Board of Trustees member Carol Fox, now Piney Point mayor; Hedwig Village Mayor Sue Speck; and SBISD Superintendent of Schools Duncan Klussmann.

Superintendent Klussmann noted that about 25 percent of students nationally who begin ninth grade do not finish high school with their peers. “We’re concerned about those individuals because if they don’t finish high school, their futures are not good,” he said.

“If we can get through to one student today how important it is to finish high school, then we’re doing our job,” he told the Spring Woods High volunteers.

At Northbrook High, 51 volunteers visited 130 homes or apartments, and about 10 students indicated that they might return to high school soon.

“I was very pleased with the day,” said Pat Waldrop, SBISD’s guidance and counseling director.  “From a district, campus and community standpoint, I think that everyone benefited.”

posted 09-14-07