The diploma Michael Owens Jr. receives Wednesday will bear the same markings as every other one awarded to the Windsor Forest High School graduates.
No asterisks.
No missing signatures.
No fine print.
Nothing to denote the fact he spent an extra semester in the classroom to complete his course work. And nothing that would indicate his diploma is less valuable — at least in the eyes of the government and a large segment of the public — than those of the others who will cross the Civic Center stage that afternoon.
Owens is a member of the “23 percent” — the soon-to-be graduates who no longer count toward Savannah’s public school graduation rate. While many of us choked on our morning coffee back in April upon reading that the local rate was 54.4 percent and not 77.7 percent, we missed a key detail.
The new measure reflected the percentage of students who graduated within four years of starting high school, not the percentage of graduates.
It turns out we didn’t have one in four kids suddenly quit school or fail. Nearly a quarter of our student population simply needed more time to earn that diploma.
So what’s more important? That our students meet a relatively meaningless deadline? Or that they earn their diploma?
“To me, there’s something pretty honorable about somebody who stays in school, no matter how long, to do what they’re supposed to do,” Owens said. “It shows determination. It shows that nothing is going to stop you.
“For me, the walk across that stage is going to be one of the most meaningful of my life.”
No expiration date
Sharon Sand and Mikki Garcia don’t flinch at mention of the 54.4 percent graduation rate.
Sand, the school system’s chief academic officer, and Garcia, part of the special education program’s leadership group, have mixed emotions about the rate — disappointment but also pride.
Pride in the notion the system sees no expiration date for struggling students.
“This system doesn’t give up on a child, any child, just because he or she can’t finish high school in four years,” Sand said. “Not so long ago, kids that fell behind were allowed to just drop out. Today, we take care of every child.”
High school is not a “one size fits all” proposition. Sand compares it to the development of toddlers. They don’t all learn to walk or to talk at one particular time, and rarely do they suffer later in life for being late bloomers.
And pushing every student to graduate on time often has a detrimental effect, Garcia said.
“You are always going to have kids at different levels, and taking trigonometry and algebra and a bunch of other difficult classes all at the same time is not always what is best for the student,” she said. “That’s when they fall behind, get frustrated and drop out.
“I’d rather reconfigure their program and slow it down and give them what they need to graduate with a general diploma and go on to secondary education.”
Take the long view
Joe Buck and his peers on the school board and in the superintendent’s office insist more Chatham County kids walk with their classes in the future.
Buck also urges Savannahians to take the long view.
The school system has implemented or beefed up many programs to help struggling students in recent years, from the institution of the Twilight School to expansion of the Woodville-Tompkins Technical Career Academy.
And the high schools will return to a seven-period day, with one block reserved for “instructional focus” — enrichment for the students ahead of the game, remediation for those behind — starting this fall so those who fall behind don’t have to stay after school to get tutoring and help.
But the true difference-making efforts are happening right now in the elementary and middle schools. The emphasis is on mastering basic math skills early and reading to grade level.
Being prepared for the rigors of high school is the biggest contributing factor to graduating in four years.
“We’re doing the right things,” Buck said. “The ninth-grade class now is in better shape than the graduates were when they started high school. That trend will start to show up in the graduation rate over time.”
Misplaced pride
Owens attests to the roles maturity and preparedness play in high school academics.
He fell behind “because of pure laziness” in the ninth and 10th grades. He refused to pay attention in class. Oftentimes he’d find an out-of-the-way nook and sleep. And math was a challenge for him even at his most attentive.
He got his “act together” in the 11th grade only to slip back into bad habits in his fourth year. His second awakening came when he realized he wouldn’t graduate with his class. He finished last fall with the help of the Twilight School.
He’ll strut across that stage Wednesday, and he has a message for those who would discount his accomplishment.
“The graduation rate is nothing but a pride thing, about keeping a reputation up,” he said. “It should be more about seeing students graduate, any student, than about pride.”
Adam Van Brimmer’s column appears each Monday. He blogs several days a week at www.savannahnow.com and also is a social media regular @avanbrimmer on Twitter and Daddy Warbucks on Facebook.