Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Jackie Hughes, left, who was expelled from the Letsche alternative school during the 2003-04 school year, meets with Shanell Gray, who dropped out of Carrick High School. Click photo for larger image. Related story: Angry board spurns dropout study

Yes, in hindsight, Shanell Gray wishes she had stayed in school last fall.

But trying to attend simultaneously to her studies at Carrick High School, a job at Giant Eagle and the needs of a toddler son added up to too much for the Beltzhoover resident.

"It was like a whole lot of pressure, and I had to let something go," the 19-year-old said yesterday, as she sat in a small classroom at the Hill House Association, where she and seven other school dropouts take classes 30 hours a week to pursue their General Educational Development certificates and receive job counseling.

Miss Gray's difficulties at home, her need for income to begin supporting herself and other teenage complications are echoed throughout Pittsburgh, where 35 percent of the population entering high school fails to graduate within five years, according to a new Rand Corp. report.

Similarly to the rate for students overall, about 64 percent of black females like Miss Gray graduate. She now wishes she had quit her cashier's job to be among them this past spring.

"You're just going to have to make it up later anyway," she pointed out, as she's doing now in the Hill House's Out-of-School Youth Program. She hopes afterward to attend Community College of Allegheny County and become a nurse.

Among her Hill House classmates is Jackie Hughes, 20, of Lawrenceville, who said she was expelled from the city's Letsche alternative school during the 2003-04 school year after transferring there from Schenley High School, where she had failed classes.

"I've always had a smart mouth with my teachers," Miss Hughes acknowledged of her difficulties in school, though she wants to get her GED now and attend business school.

Both women said they felt school administrators, teachers and counselors did too little to help students like them, who fall behind and have difficulties outside of school. They added that starting the school day at 7:45 a.m. made life harder for many high school students, as they recalled many classes in which they or others would nod off.

"I would try to do my work, but it was hard times," said Miss Gray, who called herself a "B and C student," but one who was more intent a year ago on finding an apartment for her and her son. She tried just a week of 12th grade before dropping out, only to sense months later it was a mistake.

Not every dropout regrets his or her decision, however.

Shonte Williams, 18, of Hazelwood, left Brashear High School last fall because she had given birth to a son and felt he needed her full-time care. She took classes at Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, however, that enabled her to obtain her GED in May, even before her Brashear class was graduating.

"I still think I did the right thing," said Miss Williams, who is now enrolled in a course to become a medical assistant. "Things were more important for me at home at the time, and I've still been able to start a trade school and get on with my career."