by KIM HILSENBECK
Students can legally quit school at age 16. But according to Eric Metcalf of Communities in Schools, a drop-out prevention program that serves Hays CISD, they often disengage years earlier.
“Living in poverty, having an incarcerated parent or being in an abusive situation are not things most young people have to deal with,” Metcalf said, “but for at-risk kids, it’s what they live with every day.”
Filling the gap between what’s happening at home and performance in school is why organizations like CIS exist, he said.
“It’s a safety net,” said Metcalf, CIS’s chief program director for Central Texas and a former Hays CISD teacher.
CIS, a nonprofit dropout prevention organization, has counselors and other staff in nine Hays CISD schools. Metcalf said students are referred to the program by teachers, school counselors, nurses and peers. Sometimes, they walk in the door on their own.
Is CIS working? The proof isn’t concrete, but a recent report to the Hays CISD school board indicates it is.
“Of the kids served by CIS last year, 90 percent showed academic, behavior or attendance improvement, 99 percent completed the school year, and 96 percent were promoted or graduated. Hopefully, CIS’s involvement played some part in making that happen,” Metcalf said.
At Wallace Middle School, with a student population of about 800, 14 percent are in the CIS program, according to Stephanie Hooten, a CIS counselor. This accounts for 115 students in weekly counseling. But CIS also assists other students in short-term and crisis situations.
“Our case load limit is 90,” said Hooten, “but we don’t turn anyone away.”
Districtwide, CIS manages 1,041 students on a regular basis, but it assists another 3,063 in a short-term capacity; that’s more than 25 percent of the student population.
Why are so many Hays CISD students in need of counseling and social services? Hooten believes the need stems from parents working more hours, less supervision, cultural issues from a shifting population, and even more access to electronic media.
“These kids are more aware of what’s going on in the world than we were at that age,” Hooten said. “The pressures of the world, the down economy and the effects of all that at home weigh on them.”
Combined with issues like hunger, health problems, bullying or even gang activity, Hooten says students get overwhelmed.
“How can a kid who’s hungry every day be expected to learn?” Hooten said. “How can the kid who is awake all night listening to parents fighting stay awake in history class?”
About 4 percent of Hays CISD students have a parent in prison.
“That’s a lot for a kid to deal with,” Hooten said.
Kids worried about seeing the bully who picks on them every day have heightened anxiety, Hooten says. And while Hooten believes anti-bullying programs like No Place for Hate are helping combat that issue, it’s only been in effect for a few years.
She expects to see more positive changes after elementary school kids have been involved in No Place for Hate for several years before they reach middle school.
Another issue for a small segment of CIS students is gang activity. Hooten said Wallace has just recently experienced a rise in gang-related problems.
“We’ve seen things like kids wearing gang colors, flashing each other signs in the halls, even wearing one pant leg cuff rolled up,” Hooten said.
Sergeant Mike Wood of the Hays County Sheriff’s office is the supervisor for the School Resource Officer program at Hays CISD. He’s also on the Hays County Gang Task Force. Wood confirmed gang activity is up across the county.
“We don’t have the high-profile cases like inner cities,” said Wood, “but it is happening in our county.”
Wood has seen a handful of cases where a Hays CISD student was involved in gang activity because a parent or family member was in a gang.
“We had one dad who supported his third-grader’s involvement in a gang,” Wood said. “By and large, though,” he said, “most parents don’t approve of their children’s poor choices.”
Metcalf was quick to point out that he doesn’t believe students are in CIS because they are bad kids, or not intelligent, or because their parents don’t care about them.
“What tends to happen,” Metcalf said, “is parents are unable to fully support their kids because they work a lot or have other circumstances that prevent them from being fully engaged in what’s going on at school.”
Hays CISD already employs counselors at each campus. Why the need for outside counselors? According to Metcalf, the school district’s counselors are dealing with administrative issues, standardized testing, and other tasks.
“CIS does not duplicate efforts with school counselors,” Metcalf said. “In fact, we work very closely with them to support students and help get them on a better path,” he said.
For example, Hooten said she coordinates with multiple social service agencies and support resources that come to the school to meet with CIS students. She works with organizations like the Hays Caldwell Council on Drug & Alcohol Abuse, the Greater San Marcos Youth Council, the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center, GenAustin and the Central Texas Medical Center, Hooten said.
Hooten thinks offering these services at the school, and at no cost to families, reduces the burden for parents making them more likely to support their child being in CIS.
Sometimes, the safety net fails, says Metcalf. In the end, he says what CIS does best is create a support network for at-risk students.
“Positive relationships are so important to these kids,” Metcalf said.