To move closer toward re-accreditation, the Kansas City Public Schools is focusing on locating school dropouts.

KCPS is seeking volunteers to work during the afternoons through the end of June to assist with contacting and locating students who may have dropped out of school.

Volunteers will help KCPS staff in several ways, from calling departed students to conducting home visits to reviewing enrollment and transfer data from surrounding school districts.

The program will operate from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday with flexible scheduling available. The base of operations will be at the Board of Education building, 1211 McGee St., Kansas City, Mo.

According to district officials, the dropout recovery effort is essential to regaining state accreditation. It helps KCPS identify where dropout students have surfaced, which in turn directly impacts the KCPS dropout rate. In Missouri, a student is considered a dropout from their original school district if it is undetermined where he or she has continued his or her education. KCPS has a significant number of students whose new education location is unknown.

To schedule a time to volunteer, contact Samuel Johnson via email at sjohnso4@kcpublicschools.org.