Issues over who should offer service

IN AN otherwise strong Sept. 29 editorial, "Truancy begins at home," you offer a stray opinion that is both unsubstantiated and ill-informed. You write that more alternative education "work may need to be brought in-house instead of subcontracted to community groups."

The fact is that the diploma-granting programs sponsored by community organizations make an identifiable and invaluable contribution to the Boston Public Schools. These programs graduate students whom the BPS has been unable to serve. According to a 2007 study by the Parthenon Group, the community-based programs, with one exception, have graduation rates that are higher than the in-district alternative education programs. The high school dropout crisis is a big and complex problem, and community-sponsored alternative education is part of the solution.

It is also worth noting that the community-based programs are funded in large part through the federal Workforce Investment Act, which is overseen locally by the Boston Private Industry Council, of which I am executive director. If anything, the BPS should consider using its own resources to build up the capacity of community organizations to serve the diverse needs of students who fall behind academically and stop attending school regularly.

NEIL SULLIVAN
Dorchester

I AGREE that the issue of truancy needs further discussion and focus from our Commonwealth and the City of Boston. I also agree that the current alternative educational options need to be examined, because we could be doing a much better job. I would like to suggest, however, that the issue is not whether the work should be "brought in-house" or "subcontracted to community groups," but rather whether those serving these students are successful. We need clearly articulated goals for service and accountability, both in the Boston Public Schools alternative schools and in community groups, for all students including the many who progress from truancy to dropping out. We then can measure and support those programs that are most successful in bringing truants from the streets of Dorchester, Roxbury, East Boston, and elsewhere to the college campuses of Bunker Hill, UMass, Berklee, or Harvard. We all want success for these students, but let's focus solutions on outcomes, not delivery systems.

MARK CULLITON
Chief executive
Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses