NORWICH – Behavioral and academically “at-risk” teens don’t become that way overnight. At Norwich High School, these issues are being identified as a continuous concern, officials said.

The issues surrounding the performance and teaching strategy for at-risk high school students are being addressed every semester by school administrators. Assistant Principal Patricia Giltner and Principal Thomas Knapp presented inprovements at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

Knapp said they’ve come up with a more intensive plan to begin tracking students who show difficulties before they enter the high school. He said if they are struggling in one building, it is almost a guarantee they will struggle in the next.

“We owe it to the students, to ourselves and to the community to take a closer look at students needing assistance,” Knapp said. “We have never before taken such an in-depth look at this.”

Knapp said as it stands now, the dropout rate for the high school is relatively high and has been for a long time. They said they hope to see mass improvement by 2011. He said the school is making small steps and the process is not easy.