Derry
District coordinator helps keeps kids in school
DERRY — The Derry School District hopes to keep students in school as long as possible and now has someone to help make sure they do.
Richard Flagg is the district's new high school coordinator, on the job since last summer, and part of the district's efforts to keep kids interested in learning.
Flagg previously worked as assistant principal at Ernest P. Barka Elementary School.
State law now requires students to stay in school until they are 18, Flagg's job involves keeping in contact with struggling or at-risk students from middle school to high school, and finding ways to keep them engaged in education. He is the connection from Derry's middle-schoolers to Pinkerton Academy and alternative educational programs.
"I've gotten to know a lot of students who may not have that passion to be in school," Flagg told School Board officials last week, "and helped them develop more passion for success."
He works with Pinkerton's staff to make sure students keep education as a top priority, even when they're struggling.
Flagg said many students who had left school are now back in programs, setting goals.
"We build relationships with students who feel disconnected," he said.
Part of what he does happens at the middle-school level, where he forges strong connections to the students as they prepare for high school. The Derry district has a "Check and Connect" program that helps keep younger kids engaged and on the right track, Flagg said.
"We want to make sure all kids are supported," he said.
He credited Pinkerton's continuing education program, or PACE; Pinkerton's relationship with the Upper Room for GED preparation and education and Pinkerton's new ombudsman and Career and Technical Education programs as helping students stay connected and succeed.
"The idea is to keep everybody continuing," PACE coordinator Bill Foye said in an earlier interview. "The idea it to catch them up if they are falling behind."
Derry Superintendent Mary Ellen Hannon said teamwork makes for a student's success, from the district's work with its "Check and Connect" program, to Flagg's work at the high school level.
Hopefully, by the time they get to high school, they can connect and fit," she said. "Education is changing; it's not as traditional as when we were in school."
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