Shanna Flowers

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Don't even think about piling onto city school officials because Roanoke has the region's worst dropout rate.

They didn't earn the dubious distinction by themselves.

When a child arrives at school unprepared, unable or unwilling to learn, don't blame the teacher, the principal or the school board.

It's the parents' fault.

It's the parents' fault when a child lives in such a chaotic household that he or she can't focus on schoolwork. The sad reality for too many children -- white and black -- is that school takes a back seat to survival.

It's the parents' fault when a child receives free breakfast at school but gets there too late to eat it. The child ends up in class too hungry to concentrate.

It's the parents' fault when they don't value education and can't or won't see it as a gift that can put their children on the road to a better life.

With such lack of support at home, no wonder too many of our children hate school, give up and drop out at the first opportunity.

According to the state Department of Education, Roanoke has a graduation rate of 57 percent. That means nearly half of the system's students are falling through the cracks.

For three years, I've emphasized that saving Roanoke's schools is a communitywide effort. And it is.

But it starts at home. School exists to educate students. Students will do only as much as parents expect of them. If parents don't care, students won't, either.

Poverty is not an excuse. It makes things a lot tougher, but too many adults grew up in disadvantaged homes and made something out of themselves. I'm not talking dollars and degrees, but the ability to make a respectable place in the world after high school.

Now don't get me wrong. Roanoke has some teachers who, to put it politely, picked the wrong profession. But if parents send their children to school ready to learn, sorry teachers can't claim inattentive and uninterested kids as a cover for their own incompetence.

Parents have to start taking responsibility for the educational outcomes of their sons and daughters.

Parents, your child's educational success begins with you. You set the tone at home. If your life hasn't been what you envisioned, that's even more reason to encourage your child in school.

The Roanoke school system is offering a workshop April 12 at Patrick Henry High School called Parent University.

Registration is over, but I'm betting Superintendent Rita Bishop -- a strong advocate of parental involvement -- wouldn't be upset if she had some last-minute participants.

Consider it a step toward lowering the dropout rate.

Shanna Flowers' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.