photo by Stefan Rogenmoser

Louis Smith speaks to the Dorchester 2 School Board.

There are thousands of at-risk kids attending school in Dorchester District 2. A newly formed community committee is committed to doing something about it.

The group is Community Parent Summit: Tools For Raising Successful Teens. Its 18 members – made up of educators, churchgoers, social workers and parents – have met five times since June to discuss ways to help troubled teens.

Among its members are Summerville Mayor Bill Collins and from the school district Superintendent Joe Pye, Public Information Officer Pat Raynor, Director of High Schools Kenneth Wilson, Coordinator of High School Curriculum Camilla Pinckney and Grant Writer Phyllis Ledbetter.

According to Pye 9,000 of the district’s 23,000 students are on free and reduced lunch program. Not all poverty-ridden children are at-risk, but children need attention from parents and church friends, Pye said.

“When you have all that plus poverty you’re asking for trouble,” Pye said.

Louis Smith, who helped organize the summit, spoke to the school board at its Aug. 8 meeting.

There are many factors that prevent children from being successful, Smith said, such as teen pregnancy and children raising children. There are high suspension and dropout rates in South Carolina, he said.

Other than Pye, no one has come forward to address these issues, according to Smith.

Lack of parent involvement is a problem as well as the cultural gap between teachers and students of different racial backgrounds, Smith said.

“These students are not prepared for the 21st century,” he said. “We need to help these students graduate and become productive citizens . . . For every non-graduate it causes a burden on the taxpayers.

“If we don’t do something about that it’s going to be the same old, same old . . . Summerville is progressive, has values, loves God, has culture.”

The summit has talked about giving drug tests to students, Smith said.

“We do have a lot of kids out there that need parenting . . . This committee may be the first of its kind in the state, maybe even in the United States.”

“This is something that has been greatly needed for years,” school board member Gail Hughes said. “Get them back on track . . . It takes a community to raise a child.”

Raynor said summit members have had general discussions that people in the community see as concerns like the way kids dress, the way they’re skipping school and teen pregnancy. “We just talked in general about problems and challenges that young people have that we can help them with to keep them in school and keep them motivated,” she said.

“We’ve had some very long meetings talking about how people in our community can step up to the plate and help these young people and not wait until they get in bad trouble. The hope is that it’s going to turn out to be a movement or a coalition working all through the year.”

On Nov. 12 the summit is holding several workshops for parents at Summerville High School.

Raynor said they hope to attract citizens from the community interested in helping young people become productive citizens who will stay in school. Parents, grandparents and citizens who’d like to help encourage young people to turn their lives around are being welcomed, she said.

There will be workshops conducted by experts from the Department of Social Services and the Dorchester County Alcohol and Drug Commission. If parents suspect their children are experimenting with drugs and alcohol, the workshops will provide information on who to turn to and call for help, Raynor said.

“People are going to talk, take what starts that day and really work together all throughout the year through churches and organizations that are out there. It’s going to kick it off.”

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