Communities in Schools holds annual meeting
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 6, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Alando Mitchell of A Drummer's World demonstrates how he teaches his students, during the Communities in Schools annual community partners meeting on Thursday morning.
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Selena Bennett, executive director of Communities in Schools, speaks about the impact of the organization.
Eight years ago, Alando Mitchell had a dream about something he could do to curb some of the errant behaviors of youths in the community.
It materialized into a drum line, first at Boys & Girls Club and of late at "A Drummers World Performing Arts School."
But it's not "just a drum line" of students playing and making noise, he says.
"These are good kids looking for something positive to do in our community," he said. "They're going to be part of something, whether we want them to or not."
His sessions with the youths, representing middle and high schools around the county, also incorporate character skills and life lessons.
The students demonstrated their syncopated rhythm at Thursday's annual community partner meeting of Communities in Schools. Mitchell also gave a tutorial to volunteers in the audience on how to hold drumsticks and led them in a brief routine.
The exercise proved to be a reflection of the day's theme -- partnership, said Selena Bennett, executive director of CIS in Wayne County.
She said she researched synonyms for the word in advance of the session, pulling up collaboration, cooperation, association, affiliation and the "two most important words," relationship and connection.
"I think the one thing that we do in CIS is we pull together all those different variables that come together for the good of the community," she said.
Mrs. Bennett shared just a few of the partnerships that have helped the agency to thrive, including Wayne County Public Schools, law enforcement, Chamber of Commerce, churches and businesses.
The flip side of the coin, though, and perhaps the biggest reason for its existence in the community, is one glaring statistic -- 75 percent of all high school dropouts become prison inmates, she said.
"Those in the juvenile justice field know that," she said. "We can either put our money on the front end or we wind up putting our money on the back side."
Retired Judge Joe Setzer, CIS board chairman, was keenly aware of that.
Fifteen years ago, he was among those who formed the Teen Court program, as a way to curb teens charged with criminal activity from continuing on a delinquent path and having a record follow them to college.
This past year, 160 students from ages 12 to 18 were served by the Teen Court program, he said.
Overall, CIS served 4,591 students the past school year, Setzer said, with some impressive outcomes.
"During the 2014-15 school year, 96 percent of CIS students were promoted to the next grade level, 99 percent of those potential dropouts actually stayed in school and 100 percent of CIS seniors graduated, and I think that's a fantastic record," he said.
"CIS is the nation's leading dropout prevention organization and the only such organization proven to decrease the dropout rate and increase on-time graduation rates."
Two speakers -- Wayne County Public Schools' Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunsmore and the N.C. CIS President Eric Hill -- possessed backgrounds working in juvenile probation and attested to the impact a community can have on the education and success of a child. Fortunately, each said, Wayne County is not lacking in that area.
"This is the first community that I have been to that we have the support of so many different people around the community," Dunsmore said. "That just inspires me."
Sometimes it is the simplest things that can make the biggest difference, Hill said.
He recalled a youth named Manny who had potential to be a great track star. Except that he showed up for practice wearing boots. But then someone showed up and gave him a pair of running shoes.
That helped unleash Manny's potential, Hill said.
"It took that small act of kindness to make the difference where Manny went," he said. "When you put the right people in the right place at the right time with the right set of resources and the right tools, it can make a difference."
He challenged the audience to be part of the movement to bring about positive changes in the next generation.
"Don't underestimate the ability that you have to make an impact in somebody's life," he said. "We need you to be the individuals that stand in the way of what can go wrong."