District officially opens center aimed at luring back dropouts

After wising up, Philadelphia's high-school dropouts now have a place to begin the process of dropping back in.

Hailed as one of the first of its kind in the nation, the Re-Engagement Center - a one-stop shop for former students to receive information and placement services that will get them back in school - was formally opened by the district yesterday.

An estimated 8,000 students in grades six through 12 drop out of school each year, according to the district. Officials believe the center will serve 1,200 students this school year.

"We are here because we must find a way to re-engage these students; for one reason or another we are not successful," Tomas Hanna, district chief of school operations, said during a ceremony for former dropouts.

"It's not about asking why . . . ," he added. "We're about just moving on and getting the work done with these young people."

Housed in colorfully painted, computer-filled offices on the ground floor of the district's administration building on Broad Street near Spring Garden, the center is open daily and targets 16- to 21-year-olds.

It's 10-person staff - five from the district, five from the city - provides youth with full academic assessments to determine math and reading levels and then connects them to education programs that best suit them.

Options include traditional schools, eight accelerated-learning high schools for overaged students, nine evening Twilight schools and the Gateway to College program, which allows students to earn high school and college credits at Community College of Philadelphia.

Also, each student's progress is monitored for 120 days after re-enrolling by a center staffer who will provide support as needed and help obtaining employment, child care, housing and other services.

Mayor Nutter, upon taking office in January, said that among his top goals was to halve the city's dropout rate in five to seven years and to double the college-graduation rate.

The issue has since received greater attention from city government, civic and community leaders.

This morning, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and District Attorney Lynne Abraham are to attend a 9:30 news conference in front of Benjamin Franklin High School to discuss a report contending that high-quality pre-kindergarten programs are the best deterrent against the country's rising dropout rate.

Conducted by the organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania, the report found that a 10 percent increase in graduation rates may prevent 150 murders and 5,900 assaults in Pennsylvania each year.

The Re-Engagement Center, district officials said, was created through partnerships with the Philadelphia Youth Network, Inc., the mayor's office and the city's departments of Human Services and Health.

"We expect to serve everybody here like the Nordstroms of student services," said Courtney Collins-Shapiro, director of the district's Multiple Pathways to Graduation program.

"So, any young person that walks in that door will be welcomed with a smile and treated like the adults that they are.

"This is not a place where we're going to give you a phone number and say, 'Go make the call yourself.' This is not a place where we say, 'I can't help you.'" she said.

The students on hand for yesterday's ceremony now attend accelerated high schools, small-campus programs that typically take two years to graduate over-aged students who've dropped out of traditional schools.

The Re-Engagement Center is ideal for students who are not as committed to returning to school, students said.

"This is necessary because not all youth are determined to get out there and search and find the education that is needed," said Larhonda McCoy, 20, a senior at the Career and Academic Development Institute in Center City.

McCoy dropped out of Frankford High in 2002 after giving birth. Today her son is 5, and she is planning to attend community college after graduating next June.

Jamier Scott, 20, didn't make it to a traditional high school. He was kicked out of Turner Middle School, he said, and landed in a disciplinary school. As a 10th- grader in March 2006, Scott enrolled at Accelerated Learning Academy - Southwest.

"This Re-Engagement Center is a wonderful idea. It lets students know that there is a better way instead of dropping out of school and feeling lost," said Scott, who'll graduate in January. Crowded classes and general chaos led Victalicia Rodriguez to drop out of Edison High School. In March 2007 she enrolled in Fairhill Community High, an accelerated school.

Now 17 and on track to graduate in January, Rodriguez is glad she returned and is hopeful more students use the Re-Engagement Center to find their way back.

"There's a lot of kids out there who feel as though there's no place for them, there's no hope, and that the school district has failed them and they have failed themselves," she said. "They need to know that there is a place for them."

The Re-Engagement Center accepts appointments by phone (215-400-6700), or walk-in referrals between 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. *