April 13, 2005 | By Cara Mia DiMassa | L.A. Times Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Board of Education took steps Tuesday toward addressing the district's high dropout rate, calling on Supt. Roy Romer to develop plans for districtwide policies to boost graduation rates and keep students in school.

A Harvard University study released last month showed that just 39% of Latinos and 47% of African American students in the district who should have graduated in 2002 managed to do so. Overall, the district's graduation rate was 45.3%, the report found.

Prompted by that study and interest from community groups, board President Jose Huizar pushed for the action, saying the dropout rate is "the No. 1 indicator of how we are doing as a school district."

Moreover, Huizar said he hopes to spur the district to improve its system for tracking students when they leave school. He said the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest, does not have a clear idea of exactly how many students are dropping out.

Officials, he said, have "been hiding behind the numbers. We need a better picture."

Community members, who have long argued for the school district to deal with the high numbers of students who fail to graduate, applauded Huizar's efforts but acknowledged that it is a difficult problem to solve.

"There is no one easy solution to the dropout crisis, because there are so many factors that lead to a student dropping out," said Veronica Melvin, executive director of Alliance for a Better Community. "This resolution initiates the district's focus and attention on finding a real solution."

By a unanimous vote, the seven-member board directed Supt. Roy Romer to return within 120 days with a plan for dealing with low graduation rates, reducing dropouts and improving coordination of the various programs that currently attempt to address the problem. Board members provided few specifics as to how the district should fix the problem that has long plagued public education.

Huizar said that the motion's authors intentionally left the language vague to give Romer "the opportunity to think broadly" about how to address the problem.

Nancy Meza, a senior at Roosevelt High School, urged board members to adopt the dropout plan. She recounted her own struggle to stay in school. She succeeded, she said, because of support from a community organization, Inner City Struggle, which helped her stay in school. She plans to attend Cal State Northridge this fall.

But, Meza added, "most students are not as lucky as I was."

A districtwide dropout plan, she added, "will keep students in school and ensure students have a brighter future."

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The full study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project is available at: http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/news/pressreleases/ book_dropout.php