LA VILLA COLLEGE & CAREER ACADEMY on the Monitor
by Robert Munoz
January 29, 2012
La Villa district helps young dropouts
LA VILLA – Superintendent Narciso Garcia convinced his school board this week to lift a page out of his former district’s playbook to recover high school dropouts who barely missed graduation requirements.
On Monday, trustees unanimously approved an optional, flexible school schedule for 18- to 26-year-olds who failed to graduate with their class and want to attend La Villa’s new College and Career Academy.
Garcia modeled that program after the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo College, Career and Technology Academy, which offers formers dropouts the chance to finish state proficiency tests or earn missing high school credits while simultaneously taking courses at South Texas College.
“It’s our moral obligation to get them graduated,” Garcia said. “We scoured our records for kids who fell within the appropriate age range who were almost finished with their high school diploma but had not quite reached it.
“The school board really wants to make an impact on their community.”
In 2007, PSJA Superintendent Daniel King first brought the dropout recovery program to his district and has since graduated nearly 1,000 former dropouts, helping more than triple PSJA’s graduation rate.
A much smaller district in comparison, La Villa’s four-year completion rate dipped from 80.4 percent in 2005 to 67.7 percent in 2008 before surging to 85.4 percent in 2010. Still, Garcia wants to see more dropouts in his community earn their diploma and connect to college.
And he has not set his sights on just La Villa students.
“We all know the Delta area has huge economic burdens and isn’t all that stable,” Garcia said. “But any progress we can make with even one student, helping them better themselves, will go a long way into the rest of the community.
“Their kids will go to school. It will all trickle down,” he added.
So far, La Villa school officials – and word of mouth – have attracted 25 dropouts from La Villa, Edcouch and all over the Delta to the College and Career Academy.
Each morning and afternoon, depending on their work schedule, students come to central office and practice state tests, study for missing credits and receive additional tutoring. Starting in March, they will be able to attend courses at STC to work toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
“It’s a wonderful program,” said Ryan Reyna, 19, of La Villa. “It gave me a second chance to graduate from high school and enroll in college finally.”
He should have donned a cap and gown with the rest of his classmates last spring. But Reyna missed too many school days as he tried to supplement his family’s modest income by working in the surrounding agricultural fields.
And when a critical six-week test day approached, Reyna found himself attending the funeral of his grandmother, a former teacher.
“She would have been very upset (that) I dropped out,” he said. “She taught me to appreciate school.
“But I think she’d be very happy I changed things now.”
For the time being, Reyna has quit working to focus on his diploma. When he begins college classes, he plans on beginning a history degree so he can be a professor one day.
“The program’s fun,” he said. “You go get your education instead of just sitting at home. I’m getting a second chance at a better life.”
Neal Morton covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at nmorton@themonitor.com or (956) 683-4472.
