City council raises public school dropout age

A petition to increase Boston’s public schools dropout age passed with a unanimous vote on Wednesday at the Boston City Council’s weekly meeting.

With the four-year graduation rate at 63 percent, Boston Public Schools have seen a four-year decrease in the number of dropouts to one of its lowest points in history.

The rate fell 6.4 percent in 2009 to 5.7 percent in 2010, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Despite this downward trend, the City Council has been working toward proposing a law that would change the dropout age for students in schools.

At a meeting last week, Councilor At-Large John Connolly and Councilor Tito Jackson, from Roxbury, ordered a petition to be sent to the Statehouse for a law that would increase the dropout age from 16 to 18 years.

“If we don’t raise the age, then we cannot maintain this status quo,” Connolly said at the meeting. “We can give these kids two more years, which can make a real difference for these kids in order to go to college and compete in today’s world.”

After speaking at a summer commencement this year, Jackson said he wanted to concentrate on encouraging 16-year-olds to participate in school and urging them to consider college.

This year, 110 students dropped out from BPS, which was a good year for Boston, said Councilor Charles Yancey, of Dorchester. Discouraging these students from dropping out will be well worth the effort, he said.

Councilor Maureen Feeney, of Dorchester, said that “holding onto these students for an additional two years is so necessary if we create other outlets of support for them.”

Although all councilors were in compliance, Councilor Bill Linehan, of the South End, said he feared disruptive students who plan to drop out would negatively impact the learning environment for the other students.

“It is an enormous responsibility because each one that we keep for two more years will be a difficult, financial commitment,” he said. “I will support this, but this vote can’t be taken lightly because it will cost us, and everyone will have to be committed.”

Councilor At-Large Ayanna Pressley said that she wanted to stress the importance of stabilizing the students’ families and giving them the resources to support the most vulnerable ones who drop out.

“Chronic absences of many students are due to dysfunction in their families as well as many girls who are pregnant or had a child,” she said. “These are the ones who we need to keep from dropping out by giving them support systems like social workers and guidance counselors.”

Connolly ended the discussion by accepting the responsibility and obligation to continue bettering vocational education. Keeping the drop out age and not going to college will be an even bigger issue, he said.

“We don’t let 16-year-olds drink, smoke, or vote, but they can drop out of school and affect their futures,” he said. “Instead, we need to also create certain programs to help students with job placement and vocational training because not doing anything will cost us more.”