Graduation Matters to us all

Editor's note: This article, an overview of the Graduation Matters program, is the first installment in a series of articles intended to show what Graduation Matters is, why the program is needed and how and by whom it will be implemented. Following articles will focus on the role parents play in helping children learn the importance of education, what involvement the community has in promoting an educated citizenry, what purposes educators serve and how everyone benefits from increased graduation rates.

The Jan. 21 proclamation of The Year of the Vernon County Youth also began in earnest the local participation in the statewide Graduation Matters initiative. Locally, and on the surface, the project is a joint effort of the Nevada R-5 School District and the Vernon County Youth Task Force to keep children in the county in school until graduation, but actually, the initiative is intended to be a collaborative undertaking of the entire community with the immediate goal of increasing graduation rates and the long term goal of improving the lives of everyone.

The Graduation Matters initiative began last spring when several hundred educators from across the state gathered to discuss the state's dropout rates and participate in a dropout prevention summit "to initiate local community or regional planning to reduce the dropout rate, and to identify and prioritize state strategies and activities that will assist the state in helping local communities address the dropout problem," according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Web site.

After the idea for the initiative took root and a logo was developed, "It began to pick up momentum," said Jim Morris the director of public information for DESE. "After that we've been working on it quietly and slowly over the past 10 months," Morris said. "It's just getting airborne."

Now that the thing is off the ground, it's going to take some effort to keep it aloft. Action in the entire community is what is needed, and one of the primary issues at hand is public awareness. The R-V School district and the Vernon County Youth Task Force have already taken some steps to make the public more aware. Literature has distributed throughout the area, and there have been publicity events like the proclamation signing on Jan. 21.

Superintendent Dr. David Stephens said, "The importance of the issue is to just get the word out in our community and to families that graduation is not just a student centered issue, but that it impacts the community; it impacts the state; and it impacts the nation."

The school district and the VCYTF can't accomplish this alone. Stephens did say the working relationship between the schools of the county and the city and county governments is unique. The entire community being involved illustrates to students that graduation really does matter to everyone around them, and that they are present now as part of the future of the community in which they live. Stephens said the unique collaboration in Vernon County "could serve as a model for other areas."

Stephens also said that so far the support of individuals and business community in the county has been great. The Nevada/Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce is a full supporter as are many of the local banks and businesses.

They are passing out Graduation Matters literature, placing banners in their stores and using their visual presence in the community to say that graduation is important to them. The initiate will continue throughout the rest of the year in conjunction with the Character Education program.

Supporters know it is a long term project, but they are not the only ones contributing to the effort.

There are countless individuals working quietly behind the scenes within those business and organizations to keep this issue in the public eye and to keep the promise of an education for every child and the hope of a better future for the children of Vernon County growing. There are several other organizations trying to assist Vernon County and other communities in addressing the dropout rate. Among them are the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Alliance for Excellent Education. It is all one big statewide effort, but it begins in the home, and that will be the topic of the next installment of Graduation Matters to us all.