A 1970s song by the rock group Kansas poses the question, “How long to the point of know return?” The same question could be asked about the state of our local public schools. Back in 2003, at the DBA’s first Justice in Education Symposium, then-DISD Superintendent Mike Moses reported that nearly half of all students who enter ninth grade in the DISD either drop out or fail to graduate. This statistic is alarming, to say the least. Many parents and teachers are aware of this problem and are working diligently to remedy it. But what about our bar association? Do we, as Dallas attorneys, have a vested interest in lending a hand? The obvious answer is “yes.” Such a significant dropout rate means that every year many thousands of our youth are no longer enrolled in school, never earn a high school diploma, and therefore have limited opportunity to obtain meaningful employment. Those consequences present a serious threat to the rule of law in our society, simply because the more educated and informed our citizens are, the better able they are to hold our government accountable (not to mention the great economic and moral loss – remember the old adage that “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”?). Moreover, there is an undesirable correlation between lower education and higher crime rates and increased demands on our judicial system. For these reasons, our bar association has been and will continue to do its part in helping our public schools. Indeed, we have a long history of involvement with public education in Dallas. Starting in 1973, late DBA President Frank Moore began the Law in Schools Committee, which is still very active today, providing attorneys to teach in classrooms across Dallas; this committee is currently chaired by Justice Amos Mazzant and Greg Taylor. Additionally, the Summer Law Intern Program (chaired by Kirstin Dietel) provides a great opportunity for selected students to work in law firms, and our Community Involvement Committee (chaired by Lisa K. Fox and Virginia Marentette) has adopted a local elementary school and provides teachers to help raise the overall performance of the students. After Dr. Moses identified the ninth grade as the year in which most dropouts occur, the DBA responded by organizing the “E-Mentoring, Esq.” project. This program, which is co-sponsored with the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and DISD (and being coordinated this year by Sheri Crosby), is designed for attorneys to meet “at risk” students and then mentor the student via e-mail. DISD officials selected W.W. Samuell High School in Southeast Dallas as the school to launch the program two years ago. Not only has the E-Mentoring program generated some “buzz,” the results so far are very encouraging. Today there are about 90 mentors participating in the program and many more attorneys have indicated an interest in participating. DISD officials and the W.W. Samuell teachers and principal have reported very positive feedback that the students are receiving effective and mature input from people who care about their success. Among other things, these ninth-graders learn a little about government, law, politics, current events, grammar and are encouraged to set their sights on graduating from high school (and hopefully attending college). Many of last year’s ninth-grade students requested to participate in the program again in 10th grade. And, most importantly, to date, none of the ninth-graders who began the E-Mentoring program in 2004 have dropped out of school. I would like to say thanks to DBA Past President Brian Melton, for taking the lead in implementing the E-Mentoring program and to all our members who have participated in our various public education-related programs. This spring, we embark on yet another program to teach students about our judicial system and its important role in our democracy. On April 25, the Fifth District Court of Appeals will hold actual oral arguments of a family law case at the Skyline High School auditorium. The Courtroom in the Classrooms program -- being coordinated by the DBA Law in the Schools Committee and Public Forum Committee (chaired by Rob Crain and Cheryl Camin) -- will demonstrate how the appellate process works for approximately 400 students from all over the DISD. Then, in June, a similar program will be held at the Belo Mansion, and another one at a Richardson high school in the fall. Last year, a survey commissioned by the American Bar Association showed that only half of the Americans polled could actually name the three branches of government. Working together with the DISD and the Fifth District Court of Appeals, we hope to begin to change this trend. “When many Americans do not know how their government works, that is a long-term threat to our democracy,” ABA President Michael S. Greco said recently as he visited Dallas to commend this new program. “I was extraordinarily pleased to learn that the Dallas Bar Association has taken the lead in getting judges to go directly to school environments,” Mr. Greco added. “This program is an extremely imaginative way to make our system of justice come alive in a positive way for young people.” And Mr. Greco indicates that he would like to see other state and local bar associations adopt the DBA’s Courtroom in the Classrooms program as a model. “It is my earnest hope that programs like these, which bring together the educational and legal communities, can become the norm in our public schools, not just here in Dallas, but across the nation,” he added. These are just a few of the many ways our bar association is “making a difference.” With your help and support, we will continue to play an important role in making sure our public schools never reach “the point of know return.”HN