Calvin dropped out of Rosa A. Temple the summer she completed the 10th grade. Her reason was simple.

&#8220Back then, you could get work. It wasn’t a matter of being specially trained or educated,” she said. &#8220You just had to be able to do the job.”

And laundry was something Calvin could do.

&#8220Once I was out on my own, I knew I wanted to go back and finish my high school education,” Calvin said. &#8220I just didn’t know what I would miss when I dropped out.”

Only now – at age 58 – is Calvin following through. She started taking GED preparation courses at Hinds Community College in September and is now months from getting her high school equivalency degree.

&#8220Even at my age, I know there’s still a lot out there I can do. A lack of education really hinders that,” she said.

Calvin became a statistic – just like nearly 900 of the more than 2,300 currently enrolled in the two public high schools. Statistics show they are likely not to graduate in four years.

Recent statewide dropout rates released by the Mississippi Department of Education show a 37.9 percent rate for the Vicksburg Warren School District.

Before state statistics, the local district had reported a 28 percent rate. Although 10 percentage points lower, when put in perspective, the rate translates to 652 dropouts out of the current 2,322 high school students.

&#8220It’s a wonderful thing for the state to attempt to track dropout rates, but there is no magic number here. Even a 5 percent rate is too high,” said district Superintendent James Price.

Calvin – the mother of three high school graduates, two of whom went on to college – said she thinks more emphasis is placed on the value of education, special training and trade work now than it was when she was in high school.

&#8220My advice to anyone thinking about dropping out of school is to clearly not do it,” she said. &#8220There are so many opportunities out there that they need to take advantage of.”

The decision she made more than 40 years ago has closed the door to many opportunities for her, Calvin said.

&#8220I regret it. I feel if I had stayed or gone back sooner, I would have had more options,” she said. &#8220But I’m fulfilling a lifetime achievement now. Even at my age, it can be done.”

Georgia Durman, a GED instructor at Hinds and Good Shepherd Community Center, said the reasons she hears are endless.

&#8220From family issues to finances to wanting to work to getting pregnant, a lot of it has to do with when they turn 18,” she said.

Regardless of the reason, they left school or got behind in the first place, once students turn 18, they are ready to be done with high school and out in the &#8220real world,” Durman said.

&#8220But usually when they’re young like that, they’re brought in by their mother or a grandmother to finish their education,” she said. &#8220Some just don’t want to be in a school setting at all.”

Price said that until this year a dropout rate has been extremely hard to determine because a tracking system was not in place. Both the local district and the state started tracking high school dropouts four years ago, and the numbers recently released are the results of the first class graduating in four years.

&#8220Not all kids finish the high school program in four years, and that’s OK. We’ll keep tracking them into the fifth and sixth year to see where they go and why they don’t finish,” Price said.

The 9,200-student district, the sixth largest in the state, ranked with the 18th-highest dropout rate statewide. The state average is 26.6 percent.

State Superintendent Hank Bounds has established a five-year plan to redesign the state’s school system. The plan includes online courses, flexible classroom hours and more study options that include dual college credit. It is projected to cost $125 million, money that must be approved by state lawmakers.

Price is one of 15 district superintendents statewide on Bounds’ advisory panel, which discusses solutions to problems in the school system including, most recently, dropout rates.

The local district has had a prevention plan in place for the past four years that includes addressing the need for more traditional vocational training or work-study programs, offering a true alternative education program for over-age students and incorporating pre-GED and GED programs for students at Grove Street alternative school, Price said.

But, a greater statewide emphasis on improving the graduation rate and keeping kids in school is needed, he added.

&#8220We’ve got to be sensitive to these kids’ needs as a community and provide them with ways to learn and stay in school because not everyone learns the same way. We don’t want them to give up hope because that’s when they drop out,” he said.