Company Aids Ohio High School's Comeback

Taft High's Partnership With Cincinnati Bell Has Reversed School's Downward Trend

(CBS)  When Upton Darden enrolled at Cincinnati's Taft High School in 2001, success felt far away. And no wonder, since students there were three times more likely to drop out than graduate, CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports. Taft had become a four-letter word for failure.

"Our books were outdated. I didn't have a locker. We had four principals that year, I believe," Darden explains.

The fourth principal was Taft grad Anthony Smith, who was shocked by what he found — and didn't find.

"No football team, no basketball team, no baseball team, no band, no choir," Smith says.

This school was getting a reputation as a dead-end place. "This is not where you want to send your children," Smith says.

But the principal had a plan, and he found a partner at one of the city's biggest companies, Cincinnati Bell.

"We had to do something," says Jack Cassidy, Cincinnati Bell CEO.

That something was an extraordinary commitment. Bell hardwired the school with five state-of-the-art computer labs, provides internships and even 10 college scholarships every year.

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Read Cynthia Bowers' reporter's notebook on this story.

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But most importantly, for five years now, twice a week, every week, dozens of Bell employees show up to tutor kids who need extra help. Every student who has gone to tutoring has passed state proficiency tests.

"We are 100 and O," Cassidy says, proudly.

And the comeback hasn't stopped there. Graduation rates went from 25 percent in 2002 to 75 percent last year. Attendance is up to 95 percent.

There's a football team now, and a band, and for the first time anyone can remember, there was a waiting list to get in.

For the teenage students at Taft, sure all this technology and the mentoring is great, but what really fires them up is knowing that upper classmen who maintain a B-plus average get free use of a laptop and cell phone. And what's more, every student gets the cell phone number for Cincinnati Bell's CEO.

It's a number that means a lot to Upton's little brother David.

"It's a lot of encouragement. It's like, wow, I could just be a big achiever or I can set high goals for myself and complete them, or accomplish them," David says.

What is the secret to the principal's success at Taft?

"Commitment, hard work, dedication, hard work, hard work and hard work. And some more hard work. And believing that kids can go beyond what you think they can," Smith says.

And convincing the kids to believe it themselves.

[tuxworth2]

Great Job Cincinnati Bell. When a company supports public schools in such a way -- not just with talk but with action and funding -- everybody wins, even the non-public schools. This is a far cry from the days when we used to cry foul at the Ma Bell supermonopoly.

[barbarast59]

In this age of CEO's recieving bonuses in the hundreds of millions its nice to see them giving. I have always believed that whwn a professional sports team pays a player so much money they need to donate $1,000,000 to the home states education fund. These are partnerships that benefit all.

[rporzak]

Yes, there is a Santa Claus in the form of Cinncinati Bell. Corporate America - take note and step up!