Good things happening with keeping kiddos in school. The Maine Department of Education released a report recently showed that the four-year graduation rate for Maine schools rose for a third year in a row . The average is now 85.34 %. An increase is good, but there is always more work to be done.

Chad Strout is an Reintegration Specialist at Cony High School. Chad mission is to increase their graduation rates at Cony. And from what Chad told me, there are not a lot of school that have someone focused the students who need a little extra help.

Strout says he is not doing it alone; teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and he are all invested with getting together with students and their families. Chad works with students from grade 7 to 12 that have a high truancy rate and those that have been suspended. Chad will even takes the time to work with the student at their families home and works with both the student and their parents. Strout takes an approach that ‘you are not going to fail, we’re here to help you. It certainly has been working at Cony, Strout became the Reintegration Specialist in 2010, that year, Cony’s graduation rate was 71%, in 2012 it was nearly 86%. So, way to go Cony!

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