800 public students shy of volunteer hours, lose out on high school diplomas last year: WRDSB

Around 800 public school students didn't graduate last year – not because they were at the bottom of their class – but rather, they were missing volunteer hours.

In Ontario, students must complete 40 hours of community service to obtain a high school diploma. While the region's public school board says there were other factors that held its students back – like missing course credits or failed literacy tests – most fell victim to a broken paper system.

Superintendent Ron DeBoer says the system requires students to track volunteer hours on a paper they're given in Grade 9, and submit that paper to their guidance councillor in their senior year.

“Some of those papers get lost and crumpled at the bottom of knapsacks and what have you. Usually it's a mad dash at the end of Grade 12 to hand in their community service hours,” he says.

In the fall, the board will start documenting community hours online, allowing parents and teachers to track student voluntarism in real time. The new tracking system is expected to catch students who fulfil their course credits, but are falling through the cracks because they're short on community service, says DeBoer.

The board has also instituted a team of “re-engagement” teachers to get former students back on track to graduation.

“We've reached out to those students … and connected with over 200 of those students, and have actually put those students on the journey of getting their community service hours as well as their credits,” DeBoer says. “Since September of last year, 68 of those students graduated by the end of this school year.”