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Bradley County eyes night class for at-risk students

By: Randall Higgins
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Johnny McDaniel & Zoe Renfro

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The Bradley County school board is being asked to try a new plan to keep at-risk students in school while staving off a bad grade for the system from the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Students who were held back a year in elementary school or who fail to earn enough credits to graduate with their peers are more likely to give up, Adult Education Director Zoe Renfro said at a school board planning session Thursday.

The required graduation rate under No Child Left Behind will continue to rise, she said, but so does the county graduation rate.

“It’s gone up each year, which is wonderful. We are just not getting all of them,” she said.

Some students may opt for a GED, Director of Schools Johnny McDaniel said. But GEDs now are counted as dropouts rather than graduates on the schools’ report card. A student who stays in school but takes five years to graduate also leaves a negative mark on the report card, he said.

Ms. Renfro and Mr. McDaniel said one answer to keeping at-risk students in school might be evening high school classes, such as those offered at schools in Chattanooga and Murfreesboro. The plan could allow students to graduate with their peers, they said.

Unlike existing credit-recovery programs at the county’s two high schools, the new program would be offered four evenings a week outside school hours.

If board members approve when they vote Thursday, school officials want to begin offering the classes in January.

Ms. Renfro will be the principal for what is being called GOALS Academy, which also will have a part-time assistant principal, vice principal and counselor. It would be funded through existing grants, Ms. Renfro said.

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