Lawrence High School’s graduation rate rises

Though considered a wealthy school district by New York State’s standards, Lawrence has a 70 percent poverty rate based on the number of students receiving free and reduced lunch, and the highest dropout rate — 2.6 percent — of the four wealthiest Long Island districts listed by the state.

The per capita household income of a majority of the communities in the district is above $100,000 based Census numbers, but a huge portion of the student population is considered living in poverty.

Due to this disparity, the district is unfairly grouped with wealthier districts, according to Superintendent Gary Schall. “Approximately five years ago, The New York Times cited Lawrence as having the largest gap between the wealthy and the poor in the nation,” he said. “Our 70 percent poverty rate is not reflected in our state aid as the state views the overall wealth of the community.”

Lawrence received $9,124,060 in state aid for this school year, an increase of nearly $2 million compared to the past few years, but it is still not enough, according to the Lawrence Teachers Association, that agrees with the superintendent’s assessment.

“Districts such as Lawrence are being shortchanged by the state, which decides how much aid a district receives, according to their relative state wealth,” said LTA President Lori Skonberg. “As a result, Lawrence is categorized as a wealthy school district. The formula needs to be changed so that the wealth of the public school population is measured, not the community as a whole.”

Schall said the dropout rate reflects a high level of transiency in the district. The 2.6 percent is 25 students between ninth and 12th grade who did not return to school and didn’t inform the district where they went. “Thirteen came to Lawrence after ninth grade and 12 came during middle school,” he said. “Many came to the district having prior interruptions to their education and functioning below grade level.” Four did earn their GEDs and several returned the next school year, Schall said.

“The important factor is that our graduation rate is on the rise,” he said. “Specifically between 2013 and 2014 our overall graduation rate went up 5 percent (from 78 to 83 percent) and for our Hispanic community it went up 15 percent (59 to 74 percent).” The superintendent said that 99 percent of students who began their education in Lawrence in kindergarten graduate.

Through the past several years, the district has created a number of programs such as SHARP, PM School, Weekend Academy and the Council of Unity Leadership Program for At-Risk Students that aim to keep students in school. “Anything we can do to help the students we should do,” said Dr. Jennifer Lagnado, principal of Lawrence High.

Skonberg said that those programs help students to focus in smaller sized classes and realize that success is attainable. She pointed out that studies have repeatedly shown that students living in poverty enter public school with less basic skills than their middle class or wealthy peers.

“If politicians such as Governor Cuomo are really so determined to improve New York State’s education system, they should focus their efforts on alleviating poverty and income inequality throughout the state,” Skonberg said.

The LTA believes that the district has made strides, but more can be done such as restarting remedial reading classes at the middle school. “While the district has recently taken steps to correct the problem,” Skonberg said, “many of our ESL [English as a second language] students were not enrolled in classes that adequately met their needs. As the district moves forward it is imperative that the ESL program is properly staffed as the non-English speaking population continues to rise.

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