The number of students labeled as high school dropouts by the recent Johns Hopkins study is outrageous. The way Oak Harbor counts its students is completely different than most other schools in the nation so the study is wrong.

I am being considered a high school dropout because I don’t have a sufficient number of credits to be considered a senior.

As a teen mother and a student, I feel offended to be labeled as a dropout. I come to school every day and do my work to earn credits and be able to graduate on time. When my daughter is old enough, I don’t want her to google “drop out factories” and find Oak Harbor School as part of the list and know that I attended high school here.

Every day I have to leave my three-month-old daughter at home to spend my day at school. I have to miss out on her learning new things daily so I can give her the future she deserves. It is unfair that these people have the nerve to call me a high school drop out.

The focus should be on increasing the number of graduates each year, rather than pointing out the number of drop outs.

Elizabeth Toro

Oak Habor