Walker schools begin with the end in sight

When Rossville Elementary School students arrived for their first day Friday, Chris Sikes stood waiting in a graduation cap and gown that immediately drew questions.

"I had a young first-grader come up to me this morning and he just kind of looked at me real funny and said, 'Boy, you must be really smart, you're graduating on the first day,'" laughed Mr. Sikes, the assistant principal.

"That's the idea," principal Robin Samples said.

Walker County is setting a goal of improving graduation rates by "beginning with the end in mind," officials said. On Friday, school staff across the county donned caps, gowns and mortar boards for the first day of school to make graduation a goal even for pre-k students.

"Boom, boom, boom, walking in the door they get to see that this is what we're about," Ms. Samples said. "This is the expectation. Failure is not an option here. We expect you to graduate."

Right off, everyone began calling students' classes by the year of their graduation rather than by current grade. Third-graders now are "the class of 2019," she said.

Ms. Samples said she and some teachers worried the youngest students would mistake the caps and gowns for something else entirely.

"We were afraid that kids would say things thinking that we were from Hogwarts with Harry Potter, and they would relate to that, but I haven't heard that," she said.

Walker County Schools Superintendent Melissa Mathis said the symbolism matters.

"It's one thing to walk the walk (and) say the words, but it's another thing to give a visible, united message on the first day of school," Ms. Mathis said.

"Children must have adults and others in their lives helping them to understand the importance of what they do and the consequences of their choices along the way and the value of going to school," Ms. Mathis said.

Graduation is the capstone of Walker County's education goals, and "you start in pre-k," she said.

Jason McKinney, graduation coach at Ridgeland High School, said his sights were set on incoming freshmen Friday.

"Our whole focus here, from freshmen on up, is to graduate," he said.

"It's so hard to look out four years from now when you're 14 years old, but we've got to keep that carrot out in front of them," Mr. McKinney said.

Ridgeland principal Robert Smith said high school students get the message and bounce it back.

"Several of them came up saying, 'It won't be long, I'll be dressed like you,'" Mr. Smith said.

School board members Patty Hart and Phyllis Hunter said they were impressed with the message's impact when they visited Cherokee Ridge and Gilbert elementary schools.

"It was neat to see that they knew when they would graduate as kindergartners, that they were already looking up their graduation dates," Ms. Hunter said.

"This is what we ultimately want for all of you," Ms. Hart said of Walker's students.