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Culver: 'Community effort' needed to keep young people in school

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By Dan Gearino | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 9:22 PM CDT | () comments

DES MOINES — Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday that his policies have begun to remedy some of the problems that lead to school dropouts, though he said the best approaches are customized to local problems and conducted by local leaders.

“My point is a simple one: This must be a community effort,” Culver said.

He spoke at a dropout prevention summit sponsored by public and private groups.

He urged special focus on minority students, who make up 12 percent of the population yet 30 percent of dropouts.

As Culver often notes, he is a former teacher. His first teaching job was at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, where he had a dropout prevention position at Roosevelt High School.

“I’ve been there, and I think it gave me a critically important perspective,” he said.

Culver has supported an expansion of publicly funded preschool. He said the initiative is a way for teachers to intervene early in the lives of students who might already be on the road to academic problems.

He also cited his support for increased teacher salaries, which he said will put more qualified teachers in Iowa classrooms.

One idea that didn’t become law was a requirement that students stay in school until they are 18, up two years from current law. Culver supported the plan, but the Legislature didn’t pass it

Dan Gearino can be contacted at

(515) 243-0138 and dan.gearino@lee.net. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.