Employing the old adage as its concept that it takes a village to raise a child, a graduation team from Winterboro School is asking the community to help prevent dropouts.

The team headed to the first of three churches this past Sunday, encouraging those in the congregation to mentor, to reach and to teach students at their church that staying in school is the right course.

It is a novel approach to an age-old problem, and it shows signs of promise — especially since educators are coupling it with other strategies. Students have toured the Choice Bus, which is equipped with a jail cell, giving them an idea of what it would be like behind bars. Why? Because there is a direct correlation between jail time and dropping out.

Students have also signed a pledge to Commit to Graduate and held a mock graduation ceremony so they could see what it would be like to actually graduate.

The school is affiliating with Big Brothers Big Sisters as part of a mentoring program, and they are getting more access to technology through the 21st Century Skills Initiative.

“Dropping out is a community problem, not a school problem,” principal Craig Bates told the first congregation. And he’s right.

It will take the whole community working together to turn this problem around. And educators seem to be on the right track in involving the entire community in the process.