KCSD to be first SC school district to use cell phone technology to keep students in school with “Right Back on Track” mentoring program
March 21, 2011

It’s 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday. Do you know where your high school student is?

For the families of 25 Kershaw County School District (KCSD) high school students, that question will be answered more easily over the next few months as they participate in a voluntary mentoring and dropout prevention program where the youth will carry cell phones with GPS tracking devices.

“Right Back on Track” is a program that keeps habitual truants in school by combining an adult who serves as a mentor/coach with modern-day technology to track the student’s whereabouts.

“We were interested in piloting this program because it pairs a caring, trained adult who mentors a student through personal phone calls as well as keeps track of that student’s location 24/7,” said KCSD Superintendent Frank Morgan. “The mentor will keep the student on a positive path to help the student be successful in school and life.”

Transition and Truancy Specialist Supervisor Paula Costello said that the ALPHA Behavioral Health Center received the grant from the Dropout and Truancy Prevention Network to partner with KCSD to be the first district in South Carolina to pilot the program, which will be launched in all three Kershaw County high schools on Tuesday, Mar. 22.

Costello said that the cell phones or units used are “not toys,” and are programmed to only be able to call out to the mentor/coach hotline, DTPN Ops Center, student’s school and 911. They also do not have any texting capabilities.

The program is divided into two phases. “The first six-weeks of the program are called the intervention phase where the mentor contacts the student at least three times a week to help with goal setting and success strategies,” said Costello. “Also during this time, a student may receive wake up calls or curfew reminder calls. The technology in the phone also alerts the coach if the youth is not in the proper place so that a series of steps can be taken to locate the student and encourage compliance.”

Costello said that during the second “step down” phase of the program, the student returns the cell phone and still receives calls from the mentor, but on a less frequent basis.

“We know the importance of good school attendance in order to be academically successful so we’re willing to try a new approach,” said Morgan. “We’ll be collecting data from this group of students along with a control group - a similar group of students with truancy issues - who will not be involved in the Right Back on Track program to see what difference the program has made.”

If you would like more information about the services provided by the Transition and Truancy team, call 432-6902 and contact Paula Costello (ext. 328), Celia Boland (ext. 329) or Doris Burton (ext. 330).

For more information: Mary Anne Byrd, 432-8416 ext. 1229