| James Ragland: DISD helps dropouts to get back in 01/22/2001 By James Ragland / The Dallas Morning News Geronimo Medrano dropped out of high school. He went back, and then he quit again.
At 18, he left his senior class at H. Grady Spruce High School because, he said, his father was in jail and he needed to help his mother.
He dropped out the second time because he'd gotten his girlfriend pregnant and needed to make some money.
"It was just the pressure [of school] and the situation [at home] and everything combined together," Geronimo said. It would be such a sad story if it ended there. It also would be a fairly common one. Every year, hundreds of seniors drop out of Dallas schools. They give in to peer pressure. They fall behind in class. They have health problems. Or their home lives fall apart.
"I had a lot of smart friends and when they would start hanging around with the wrong people, it would turn their whole situation around," Geronimo said. "They would start skipping school and drinking and stuff like that."
In an urban system such as the Dallas Independent School District, which has more than 5,000 seniors among 160,000-plus students, it's easy to disappear once you walk out.
Success story
That's what makes Geronimo's story worth telling. I was pleased to learn that the district is not turning its back on wayward students. The district has a program that tracks down dropouts and gives them another chance to finish high school. More than 2,000 returned last year, and 137 got their diplomas.
Geronimo is a beneficiary of that program, and one of its success stories.
He got a letter last year from the district's Dropout Prevention, Intervention and Recovery program. It offered him a free pass to the State Fair of Texas if he would come by and meet with a counselor for a few minutes. He did.
The counselor talked him into attending one of 21 district centers that help reconnect dropouts. At 20, Geronimo went back to school and finally graduated in June. Earning his diploma gave him a boost of confidence and helped him begin thinking more about a career instead of menial jobs.
'Incredible talent'
Geronimo's boss at John Eagle Collision Center raves about his career potential.
"He's been in an auto body shop since he was about 12," said Vernon Crump, John Eagle's body shop director. "And he has incredible talent. We want to see him go ahead and get a four-year degree in business administration and become one of our department heads."
Geronimo, now 21, always enjoyed working on cars, and he proved just how good he is at it. He won a national contest last year that measures how well an auto repairman can estimate and fix body damage. He apparently is the first person in Texas ever to win the contest, and he'll represent the country in an international competition this year in Korea.
Here's the best part. Geronimo married his high-school girlfriend, Lucilla, and their son, Estevan, is now 16 months old. Geronimo is taking classes at a community college and plans to take advantage of his employer's offer to help pay for his education.
"I'm glad I finished high school," he said. "I'm happy the program is there. I thought I'd be too old."
I asked Dr. H.B. Bell, the school district's assistant superintendent for dropout prevention, the reasons students give for dropping out in the first place.
"What they tell me is ... if they can connect with an adult who really cares about them and what their plight is, they can really overcome anything," he said. "But if they get the impression that nobody cares ... then they leave."
James Ragland can be reached at 214-977-8270 or at .
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