CLEWISTON, Fl. – In the fall of 2021, Hendry County School Superintendent and Clewiston native Mike Swindle made a commitment to tackle an education challenge in his district. His goal, increase high school graduation rates in rural Hendry County, Florida. As a pilot project to understand what it would take to achieve that goal, he gathered dedicated educators as well as community mentors to help 13 Clewiston High School students, who would not have otherwise been able to graduate, do just that.
In January 2022, the group identified 30 black male high school seniors who were in danger of not graduating by May. A majority of them needed help with standardized tests. With the extra supports, many would be able to meet their graduation requirements. This left 13 that were still off track and wouldn’t graduate on time.
According to Swindle, one male was nine credits short; several of them had not come close to passing state standardized tests; several others were multiple credits short and some of them had attendance issues including one student that had missed a total of 62 days of school.
By May, all but four of the original 30 students identified graduated and the four remaining students are still eligible and the work needed to fulfill their credits, take the General Educational Development Test (GED) and earn a high school equivalency credential.
Swindle and the Hendry County School District has been part of FutureMakers Coalition since 2015. FutureMakers Coalition aims to transform Southwest Florida’s workforce by increasing the proportion of working age adults with college degrees, workforce certificates, industry certifications and other high-quality credentials to 55 percent by 2025.
Mr. Swindle formerly was Director of Workforce Development for Hendry County Schools and a former county commissioner.
While in workforce development, Swindle tried to improve the county’s workforce by waiving fees for GED courses, welding certificates and more but still not much improvement happened. Next he hired Hispanic and black liaisons to go out into the community to reach populations where they gathered to try and communicate the importance of completing high school and achieving a certificate for a trade.
He said he knew that if his new team was going to be successful in helping this targeted group of seniors graduate, he needed people that these young men could relate to and that could understand them.
So he brought in community leaders, educators and mentors that were very well known and trusted and that had a long-term history with the school and in some cases these families. Working alongside Clewiston Principal and CHS alumni Phillip Summers, Administrator of School Improvement Stevonia Allen, District Director Secondary Schools Roberto Sanchez, Guidance Counselor Renee Jackson and three community mentors, Howard McKire, Johnny Jackson and Eddie Warren.
McKire is a 1976 alumni of Clewiston High School and was the school’s first black football quarterback. His father was the school’s first black principal in the 70s. After graduating from the University of Florida and before moving back to Clewiston, Howard worked with schools in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Miss Allen developed player cards for each of the students that like an NFL draft card that included their photo, status and what they needed to achieve to graduate.
At the same time, Jackson and Warren were developing relationships with the students including getting to know their families if they didn’t already know them from growing up in Clewiston. They made phone calls on weekends, nights and had the students call them on weekends.
Miss Jackson kept up with the day to day changes the multiple students were making and reporting the progress back to the team. Along with Miss Allen, the pair kept the students, as well as their mentors and parents, informed.
The team met with the students at a minimum of once per week and met as a whole group twice within the six weeks.
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