Lincoln Public Schools

A community came together this fall to talk about the high school graduation rate at Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) and to generate new and creative ideas that could help make a very good graduation rate – a great graduation rate.

In the first initiative of its kind, the city-wide Community Conversation brought Lincoln citizens together for two sessions at Lincoln High School – one in October, one in November – resulting in recommendations for improving the graduation rate: suggestions for public schools, existing organizations and the community as a whole.

“This Community Conversation is only a beginning,” said Superintendent Susan Gourley.  “We, as a School District, will not shy away from our responsibility to help our students graduate from high school.   But I believe our community now understands that our schools cannot do this alone.  I look forward to continuing the momentum we have found in this powerful alliance.  I look forward to strengthening existing partnerships and creating new ones.”

November’s session began with a panel that addressed more than 225 Community Conversation participants.

“How can we work to help kids connect?  Positive relationships are perhaps the most important of anything we can do for students,” T.J. McDowell, director of the Clyde Malone Community Center, told the group.  “I believe it is so important for high school students to connect with a teacher or educator.”

But the success of high school students begins long before high school, according to Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  “We need to be looking at early childhood, from birth to age 8, laying the foundation for every area of development.”

Two LPS officials – John Neal, director of secondary education at LPS and Terry Macholan, director of Student Services at LPS – also participated on the panel, describing the programs and initiatives already in place to support LPS high school students.

Following the panel discussion, community participants met in small groups, based on areas of interest, to develop recommendations for how the community might come together to address major issues that impact students who do not graduate from high school … issues that often go beyond the classroom and involve family support systems, poverty, mental health, diversity and inclusion.

Small groups put together recommendations, including suggestions such as:

• Increase opportunities for staff and students to achieve more
• cross-cultural awareness.
• Provide additional training for LPS employees to work with students who are dealing with behavioral and mental health issues.
• Boost the pool of community classroom volunteers and mentors.
• Ask schools to facilitate connections, such as parent-to-parent talks.
• Insure all high school students have greater access to extracurricular activities in fine arts and athletics.

Gourley thanked the participants for “all your energy, involvement and engagement in this effort.  I thank you for being visionaries who understand the power of the whole.  I thank you for being part of the solution – part of our future.”

The two-part event was sponsored by the LPS Board of Education, the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools and United Way of Lincoln-Lancaster County, with additional support from more than 30 community organizations.