Bullying and Dropping Out: Is there is a connection?

 

 

When Clark County School District (CCSD) Superintendent Dwight Jones arrived in southern Nevada in early 2011, he had substantial challenges to face. School performance by many measures was below acceptable, the state’s economy was going to negatively impact school budgets and the dropout rate was the nation’s highest. In Nevada, only 10 out of 100 high school freshmen will earn a college degree within 10 years, half the national average. The national impact of the problem costs the country billions of dollars in lost wages, taxes and productivity.

 

Superintendent Jones and his administration launched many performance improvement programs, but he has always emphasized the eradication of bullying and intolerance at school. If there is a correlation between bullying and intolerance and dropouts, then making the community aware of how communities are confronting and overcoming bullying and intolerance is helping in building acceptance in school.

 

And Vegas PBS has been a big part of getting this messaging out.

 

In Spring 2011, Vegas PBS produced a DVD and Web recording of CCSD Trustee Chris Garvey’s Parent’s Roundtable on Bullying which assists parents identifying behaviors of a possibly bullied child and the school intervention procedures, including an anonymous Report A Bully feature on the CCSD website.  

 

Vegas PBS has made a commitment to include discussion and programming about bullying and intolerance as part of its “American Graduate – Let’s Make it Happen” initiative this spring. Not in Our Town: Class Actions will air at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26as the closing bookend to a series of five programs on dropout prevention.  

 

 

Vegas PBS, one of only 20 PBS stations nationwide selected to act as a Public Media Community Hub, is implementing education resources, raising awareness and developing interactive learning tools and online experiences for diverse audiences.

 

American Graduate Let’s Make It Happen is a partnership between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and national partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance to help local communities find solutions addressing the dropout crisis. American Graduate builds on public media’s long standing commitment to education by convening conversations, forming and strengthening partnerships between public television and radio stations along with local schools, businesses and community organizations to help students graduate.

 

As part of the American Graduate project, Vegas PBS is collaborating with other organizations to serve diverse audiences impacted by the dropout issue: students, parents, teachers, administrators, business interests, community and service organizations, media and government entities.  Vegas PBS is committing significant resources to provide:  

 

These programs include:

• American Graduate: Teachers Making a Difference - 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5
• American Graduate: Road to Reform - 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 12
• American Graduate: Helping Families Graduate - 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 19
• Not in Our Town: Class Actions – 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 26

Vegas PBS has committed substantial resources in support of the American Graduate project and has agreed to address this issue for the long term. A critical component for the success of the project is community partnerships. Through the formation of a Community Advisory Council along with actively seeking other collaborative efforts, Vegas PBS is currently expanding community partnerships to maximize efficiencies to address this critical community issue.

 

For Vegas PBS American Graduate information, features, programming alerts, testimonials and more, please visit www.VegasPBS.org/AmericanGraduate or AmericanGraduate.org; like us at Facebook.com/VegasPBSAmericanGraduate; and follow us @VPBSAmGrad #MyFutureLV. Or #AmGrad