Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton Tuesday joined a group of volunteers and local sports stars in Maryvale to visit the homes of students who have dropped out of high school.
The door-to-door dropout campaign focuses on students from Phoenix Union High School District, and brings volunteers into students’ homes that couldn’t be reached by phone or mail.
Stanton says the high school dropout rate isn’t just bad for students— it’s bad for the local economy.
“We lose over $400,000 per student over the course of a lifetime if they drop out and don’t finish high school," Stanton said. "Cumulatively, if you add up all the students who have dropped out over any given year it’s over $7 billion. So for our economy, it’s critically important.”
Stanton said dropout prevention is essential for Phoenix because one in five students don’t finish high school.
One team accompanied by former Phoenix Mercury basketball player Adrian Williams-Strong came to Maryvale hoping to help Ester Oates’ grandchild who hasn’t been back to school.
“They have people there waiting, welcoming them with open arms, [saying] come back, we will help you, we will do anything we can,” Williams-Strong said to Oates.
Her grandchild, who also plays basketball, goes to Maryvale High School and Oates was grateful for the help and advice the volunteers could bring her.
“It’s awesome, I really appreciate it," Oates said. "For them to just think about our children, because a lot of schools don’t do this, don’t think about their children like Maryvale do.”
The school advisors gave Oates information on what alternative schools and programs her grandchild could use to graduate from Maryvale.
