BENTONVILLE — Students at high risk of failing or dropping out of school may find support from one of five student advocates approved by the School Board last week.
Student advocates have worked at the high school and two junior high schools for the past three years. The costs of those positions were covered by grants from the Endeavor Foundation. When that money ran dry, administrators turned to the board for help in keeping four advocates.
Advocate case loads
Here are the caseloads of the Bentonville School District’s student advocates during the 2014-15 school year. The junior highs both had one advocate and Bentonville High School had two.
School; Directly served students; Monitored students; Totals
Lincoln Junior High School; 23; 3; 26
Washington Junior High School; 35; 23; 58
Bentonville High School; 90; 5; 95
Totals; 148; 31; 179
Source: Bentonville School District
The board went a step further and agreed by a 4-0 vote Monday to pay for five advocates: one at each of the three junior high schools and two at Bentonville High School.
Willie Cowgur, board vice president, called the decision “a no-brainer.”
“The only thing that bothers me is I feel like you all had to come in here and fight to save this program,” Cowgur told administrators. “Any dollar we can spend to help a kid graduate from high school is well worth (the money).”
The cost of the five advocate positions, including salaries and benefits, is projected to be $117,500 for the 2015-16 school year. Nathalie Brunell, finance director, said the district can find the money for it.
“For something this important, that is making this type of difference, we will afford it,” Brunell said.
What advocates do
Advocates are responsible for helping students meet academic and behavioral requirements to advance to the next grade level. They link students and their families to school and community resources and monitor the attendance and behavior of the students assigned to them, according to a job description provided by the School District.
Goals of the student advocate program include increasing the graduation rate, increasing students’ grade point averages, increasing the attendance rate of served students and decreasing their disciplinary incidents, according to district officials.
District officials pointed to statistics to show the challenges many Bentonville students face. About 4,300 students — roughly a quarter of the district’s enrollment — live below the poverty line. More than 400 students are homeless.
The advocates have made a big difference in the lives of some kids, according to administrators who addressed the board Monday. Students are referred to advocates by counselors, deans and administrators.
Julia Woods, a Bentonville High assistant principal who served as a dean at the school for the past two years, said when she identified a student who was struggling with attendance, disciplinary or academic issues, she would recommend that student to an advocate.
“Overall I feel student advocates have played a vital role with our at-risk populations at Bentonville High School,” Woods said. “The advocate has done a tremendous job encouraging these students, pushing these students and holding them accountable.”
Most importantly, Woods said, advocates provide a vital relationship piece to the student’s life.
“Through the advocate, the student knows the school cares about them and their academic success. The student becomes connected to the school through the advocate and through the relationships that are built,” she said.
Evidence of impact
At least 21 district teachers, counselors, administrators and students wrote letters of support for the advocates. Those letters were provided to the board.
During the past school year, advocates directly served a combined 148 students at Bentonville High, Lincoln and Washington junior high schools. They also “monitored” 31 students. “Monitored” students differ from others served in that they require less attention from the advocates, said Amanda Musick, director of student services.
Fulbright Junior High didn’t have an advocate because its free and reduced-lunch rate wasn’t high enough under the Endeavor Foundation’s grant guidelines, Musick said. The School Board did agree to pay for a full-time advocate at Fulbright this year, however.
District administrators have data they say shows the difference advocates are making.
At Washington Junior High School, for example, achievement scores among those counseled by advocates increased by 14 percent last school year. There also was a 30 percent increase in attendance among that group, administrators reported.
Wendy Broughton, a former Bentonville High School teacher, began work as an advocate at the high school last fall. She worked with 35 seniors last year, 60 percent of whom were in the bottom 3 percent of their class. Eighty-five percent of those students graduated. Most of those who graduated plan to attend a university, community college or trade school or to join the military, according to district administrators.
“They just needed a cheerleader and a mom figure,” Broughton said. “They succeeded not because of me, but because of themselves.”
In almost every case, a student’s troubles at school can be traced back to a lack of support at home, Broughton said. Some are homeless. Some do not have a single reliable adult in their lives.
The students find themselves in a variety of challenging situations. Broughton has accompanied two of the students she mentors to court proceedings. One of those students had wrecked his car and been charged with driving while intoxicated.
“Are these kids responsible for their actions? Yes. Do they deserve another chance? Absolutely,” Broughton said.
Broughton acknowledges she could be making twice as much money if she had a teaching job, but said she has found her advocate job to be much more fulfilling.
Advocates are not school counselors, though their job descriptions overlap some, Broughton said. Counselors offer a wide range of support to all students. Advocates step in to help those students who clearly need more attention.
“We are just an extra layer of support that perhaps the deans and counselors can’t offer simply because of the case loads they have,” she said. “We don’t take the place of a counselor by any means.”
Finding the money
Wendi Cheatham, a School Board member, said while she appreciates the need for student advocates, there’s also a need for additional counselors at the high school. She said she frequently hears about what a struggle it is for students to arrange time to see a counselor.
“It should be something that’s addressed,” Cheatham said. “Everything is a choice. You give up some little something to do something else that you have slid on the scale to be more important.”
Cowgur said, “I don’t think there’s anything more important to this district than a kid graduating high school.”
Counselors help with the graduation rate too, Cheatham replied.
Cheatham, Cowgur, Travis Riggs and Brent Leas voted in favor of paying for five advocates at Monday’s board meeting. Grant Lightle, Rebecca Powers and Matt Burgess were absent.
The Endeavor Foundation provided grants for student advocates for both the Bentonville and Springdale school districts. Those grants are expiring for both districts, said Justin Fletcher, the foundation’s vice president of programs and development.
“Our hope is for the long term that these programs will be integrated into the school systems themselves and become self-sufficient,” Fletcher said. “We kick-start the process for them and the districts can decide whether that program is something that works for them.”
Springdale High School used the student advocate program last year. The school recognizes the program’s value and would like it to continue, but funding is an issue, according to district spokesman Rick Schaeffer.
“At this time no new funding has been secured,” Schaeffer said.
Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.