Statement from White Hat Management about its schools

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This is a statement issued Sept. 22 by the White Hat Management company of Akron, Ohio, after questions by Scripps Howard News Service about absenteeism at the company's Life Skills Centers. "Life Skills Centers serves a unique population of students that have dropped out or rejected their public schools. Our mission is to provide a way for these young people to come back to school and graduate - and we have helped more than 10,000 former dropout students earn their high school diplomas."It is a constant challenge to keep our students in school -- many of them have lost the discipline of daily attendance and almost all of them have other responsibilities such as jobs and families that make it harder for them to balance their schedules. Before coming to Life Skills Centers, these students were not attending school at all or were perilously close to dropping out. "White Hat Management makes every effort to help these students decide to come to school, including employing social workers as well as highly qualified teachers, and using individualized learning plans to help students focus on achieving their goals. There is absenteeism at Life Skills Centers as there is at public schools. It is surprising that it isn't higher. "Our policies require written documentation for excused absences and we comply with all applicable sections of the Ohio Revised Code. We will not dignify allegations made in interviews with "former employees," "former teachers" and "former students" since we have not been offered transcripts of such interviews."We find offensive any implication that White Hat Management, the management company for Life Skills Centers, has not complied with reporting and legal requirements.The company is a for-profit organization. Our model requires that White Hat Management fund 97 percent of start-up costs as well as 100 percent of operating costs. "Because of the company's business structure, we are able to sustain schools through their start-up periods and, in fact, well beyond that. Our commitment to the students that the public school systems and most charter and private education systems left behind requires that we adapt to our students' needs. In fact, Life Skills Centers' model follows many of the National Education Association (NEA) recommendations for Reducing the School Dropout Rate, including individualized attention, providing specialized instruction and counseling, involving families in student's learning at school and at home, and monitoring students' academic progress. "The cost of not earning a high school diploma is high for both individuals and society. High school graduates earn an average of $9,000 more per year than counterparts with no diploma according to a 2004 U.S. Bureau of Census Report. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has cited studies showing that the 1 million students who drop out of high school each year cost the nation more than $260 billion over their lifetimes in lost taxes and lost productivity. "As schools everywhere pay closer attention to dropout prevention, White Hat Management remains among the pioneers of offering a second chance to those who have already dropped out."(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)