Burns High School students inside the classroom section of the Choice Bus.

The Choice Bus is half prison cell and half classroom setting, and gives students an opportunity to think about the choice of staying in school and pursuing their education versus dropping out of school. While on the bus students watched, InsideOut, a documentary that features prison inmates sharing their stories of regret for not getting an education. After the video presentation, a curtain is opened in the back of the bus to reveal a mock jail cell, which is unlocked for students to go inside.

Cindy Hord is Graduation Coach at Burns High School, a position funded by Communities in Schools of Cleveland County. She collaborated with Communities In Schools and Burns High School to schedule the students to visit the bus. “This is a wonderful tool that has shown our students the importance of staying in school and the reality they face if they do drop out,” she said. “The videotaped testimonies from inmates impacted the students in a way that is leading them to think about the choices they are making in high school and how those choices will affect their future.”

Ninth grade student Dioneshia Robertson said, “I liked The Choice Bus. It made me see that school really does matter and that dropping out affects people’s lives.” 

This is not the first time The Choice Bus has been to North Carolina. Since 2008, when the bus was first introduced, Communities In Schools of North Carolina and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction made sure students across the state took advantage of this interactive tool. CIS Executive Director Phyllis White and Project Director Karen Folk worked together to write the grant that brought The Choice Bus to Cleveland County.

Communities In Schools of North Carolina has partnered with The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation to help increase the graduation rate and teach students the importance of their decisions, especially the decision to stay in school. 

The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation develops tools that educators can use to encourage students to stay in school, but maintains that no tool is more powerful than building solid relationships with students, families and communities.  

About Communities In Schools of North Carolina

Established in 1989, Communities In Schools North Carolina (CISNC) is an independently incorporated not-for-profit directed by our own board of directors representing both private and public interests in the state. CISNC assists North Carolina communities in replicating the CIS process of coordinated service delivery, supports the thirty-one local CIS organizations across the state, and advocates for children, youth and their families. Communities In Schools of North Carolina (CISNC) provides regional and on-site training and technical assistance, builds partnerships with state agencies and organizations to benefit young people, and serves as a resource and information center for local communities concerned about youth at risk of school failure. Communities In Schools is the nation’s largest stay-in school network, serving just over one million youth in 154 communities across the United States. Communities In Schools, Inc is located in Alexandria, VA. 

About The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation

The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the dropout rate. The Foundation was established in honor of Dr. Shelley Stewart’s late mother, Mattie C. Stewart, in the summer of 2007 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Its primary corporate partner is o2ideas, Inc., a corporate communications and brand relations firm also based in Birmingham. The mission of the Foundation is to create tools and resources to help educators, commuity leaders and parents effectively address the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate. The Foundation also partners with America’s Promise Alliance, the National Dropout Prevention Center and Communities In Schools. For more information, visit www.mattiecstewart.org.