Tribal Tribune

Finding the right path: Against all odds student works to graduate

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 By Kyle Smith

Jason Rouse is a junior in high school, but only by a hair. In fact, he was supposed to be a senior, but after being arrested during school and expelled twice, he’s lucky to still be enrolled. During his sophomore year, Rouse participated in a large fight under the rotunda. “You know, I got hit, and I wasn’t just going to let that happen, so I got into the fight,” he said. Once the fight was broken up, Rouse was arrested and spent the night in jail. He was also expelled from Charleston County Schools for the rest of the year. But working through home-bound programs, Rouse was able to make up the semester and move on to his junior year. But not every story has a happy ending, and not every student returns to high school. “(Rouse has) got people around him that work with him enough so that he won’t let himself fall through the cracks,” said Andrea Gallagher, an English teacher who worked with Rouse through homebound. “But there are a lot of kids that will let themselves fall through the cracks, It’s easiest to drop out if you go unnoticed.” Coming back to school, Rouse had to prove once again how determined he was to graduate. Before the first interim reports were given out for the new school year, he found himself in trouble again. After allegedly trying to disarm an argument between his friend and another student, Rouse was arrested and expelled from school for his junior year. “I walked away from the thing, I did the right thing in that situation.” Rouse said. “I wasn’t even able to come back, let (my teachers) know what was happening, get my stuff out the locker, none of that.” And if that wasn’t enough, Rouse’s cousin and aunt died, sending his world down the drain. “I don’t think it’s helpful to just kick a kid out of school for disruptive behavior,” Gallagher said. “If we just expel them from school, that doesn’t fix whatever the problem is.” According to a study of the performance of South Carolina’s education system, South Carolina has the highest dropout rate of any state with 50-53 percent of kids graduating. “The system that we have doesn’t fit what we need to do with kids these days. Most schools, unfortunately, have that mentality that one size fits all and eight credits every year is what every person needs and there needs to be other options.” Gallagher said. Working through homebound a second time, Rouse got the chance to exercise those other options. Instead of just sitting at home and having to repeat 11th grade the next year, Rouse went back to the school board and was put on homebound again. By working with English teacher Gretchen Bittner and math teacher Buddy Wallace and getting another opportunity, Rouse was able to keep his head above water. He is currently in an 11th grade homeroom, but he plans on graduating this year. “He wants to do something in computers.” Jason’s mother, Beverly Rouse said. “Anything is possible for him.” While the future may seem bleak for those who may appear to be dropping out, there are alternatives a student can take. “I think a lot of times when students get behind academically it seems kind of overwhelming,” said Assistant Principal Shari Bouis said, who heads up the homebound program. Come May, Rouse plans on walking across the stage and making the most out of his degree. With plans to attend Trident Technical College in the fall, he knows that he can rise above his high school experience. “We can’t get caught up with what happens here at school,” Gallagher said. “The focus needs to be on getting that diploma.”