Superintendent outlines Graduation Alliance program to help former students earn diplomas

Superintendent Robert Fitzpatrick told the board that Graduation Alliance is an online recovery program intended to find students who have left the district and guide them back toward a high‑school diploma.

"The Graduation Alliance is an organization, that helps locate students who have dropped out of school and are not on a graduation path," Fitzpatrick said, describing the program as a way to return students to the district roster and provide instruction online until they re‑enroll in their home high school.

Fitzpatrick emphasized the district view that the program is cost‑neutral: once recovered students return and the district receives average daily membership (ADM) funds for them, Graduation Alliance is paid from that funding at a smaller rate than the district receives for an enrolled student. Trustees pressed for details on eligibility and device access; Fitzpatrick said he would obtain counts of potential participants and confirmed the program provides technology when necessary.

Board members also asked how the program differs from local attendance recovery efforts led by the district’s truancy staff. Fitzpatrick clarified that Graduation Alliance focuses on students who have already been dropped from the roster, while district attendance staff work to return truant students before they dropout.

The superintendent said the program serves students up to age 21 and acknowledged that if students had been out of school for an extended period they might not be included in initial cohort counts on the district report card, but that the overarching goal is that the students graduate and succeed.