Teams of community leaders and educators from every Indiana county participated in the Indiana Dropout Prevention Summit in Indianapolis last Friday.

Sponsored by the Department of Education (DOE), State Farm Insurance and America’s Promise Alliance, the summit allowed community teams to discuss solutions to the state’s growing number of high school dropouts and develop action plans to implement in communities throughout the state.

A team of 10 people attended from Carroll County: Carroll Superintendent John Sayers, Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School Principal Charles Huckstep, and Carroll Elementary Assistant Principal Roy Hufford; DCSC Superintendent Ralph Walker, Middle School Principal Kyle Trebley, and Camden Early Childhood Center Principal Carol Coon; Burlington Township Trustee Alan Jackson; Flora Town Marshal Paul Redmon; Delphi Chief of Police Justin Darling; and Carroll County Probation Officer Justin Sheagley. The county dropout prevention committee also includes Mayor Randy Strasser and a few other community members.

Hufford is the chairman of the committee.

“I think the summit was a great way to share ideas and open an honest dialogue about dropouts,” he said. “The school systems in Carroll County are generally well above 80% graduation rates; however, we would like to do everything we can to ensure the success of all our students. It was refreshing to see 900 or so people from all over Indiana, from both public and private sector, come together with a common goal and purpose of helping all of our students graduate.”

“Our next plan is to meet again as a committee and start working toward identifying and implementing some strategies that will improve the graduation rate in Carroll County,” Hufford added.

“In Indiana only three of four students entering the ninth grade will graduate in four years,” said Dr. Tony Bennett, Superintendent of Public Instruction. “Frankly speaking, this is not enough. We must challenge our students to be the best in the nation and in the world, and that means having over 90 percent of our students graduating from high school.”

The summit featured a number of speakers, including award-winning author Bill Milliken and business leadership expert Dale Pollack. The county teams participated in breakout sessions designed to encourage dialogue on innovative approaches to increase Indiana’s falling graduation rates.

Each breakout session concentrated on one or more of the five promises a child needs to successfully complete high school: a healthy start, safe places, a caring adult, effective education and an opportunity to serve.

“We cannot continue to ignore this growing problem in our state; the clock is ticking,” said Bennett. “Every 26 seconds another student will drop out of high school in Marion County, so the time to act is now. It is my hope the teams that were in attendance today will return to their community and start implementing ideas from the summit immediately.”

The teams will submit action plans for prevention projects in their communities and follow up with smaller regional meetings across the state.

For more information on the Indiana Dropout Prevention Summit, go to: http://www.doe.in.gov/highschoolredesign/ conference.html.