2005 Award Recipient – Roger G. Owens

Governor and Mrs. Richard W. Riley Award for Excellence in Dropout Prevention

The ninth annual Award was presented to Mr. Jim Shaw of Florence, SC, by Dr. Sam Drew, Associate Director of the National Dropout Prevention Center, on February 22, 2011.

Jim Shaw received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from West Chester State University, West Chester, PA. Jim has been in education since 1975 and has always been a strong advocate for dropout prevention in the various positions he has held. He currently serves as the Safe Schools Coordinator and project director for the Mayor’s Coalition to Prevent Juvenile Crime in Florence School District One.

Jim provided the vision and served as a driving force behind the creation of both the Mayor’s Coalition to Prevent Juvenile Crime in Florence and the Graduate Florence Project, a collaborative that includes 16 projects to address dropout issues at all grade levels in Florence School District One. Graduate Florence is the result of a community initiative to develop the best strategies to help youth connect to school and graduate. It is led by the Florence One Schools, Mayor’s Coalition to Prevent Juvenile Crime, National Dropout Prevention Center, the SC State Department of Education, and the Education Foundation of Florence. Mr. Shaw also coordinated efforts to involve the three high schools in Florence School District One in the Nine Schools Plus Project, funded by the At-Risk Student Committee and EEDA.

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