On crisis call the other night at the local psychiatric hospital, we were asked to evaluate a girl brought in by the police, with her mother's urging. She had run away and was rumored to have threatened suicide. Apparently, she got in a fight with her mother over an alleged Facebook post in which she posted a "knife emoji" and said she was going to hurt herself. She denies having ever posted it and her mother never actually saw the post. We did not think she was suicidal, so I can joke about it. Kids these days.
The really tragic underlying story is that her mother has been trying to get her outpatient counseling services for a year, that counseling services were ordered by in-school supports, and that it never happened. In between the girl has been kicked out of school; it took a day waiting in crisis for an evaluation to finally connect her to badly needed services. Imagine the difference for a family of means trying to connect their kid to services. It was telling to me that the mother said proudly of her son, "He's doing well. He's 17 and never been arrested."
For fun, let's compare local 2013 high school graduation rates:
Among the top performers were suburban districts such as Niskayuna, with a 96 percent graduation rate in four years and 2 percent dropout rate; Voorheesville showed a 94 percent graduation rate and a 3 percent dropout rate.
Less-impressive results were found in cities with higher concentrations of students living in poverty, including ethnic minority youngsters. In the Albany school district, the graduation rate was almost 54 percent, with a 21 percent dropout rate. Schenectady had a 65 percent graduation rate and a 20 percent dropout rate.
(Times Union, http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Graduation-rates-up-5574062.php)
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