Some proposals to address the problem are solutions that have been tried before – and failed, in many cases, because of a lack of political will or support from Hanson, board members say.

Asadoorian and Moore propose the same solution that Javier Guzman, director of Fresno's Chicano Youth Center, offered more than two years ago – a broad-based, grass-roots coalition to keep more students on track to graduate. In 2009, Guzman approached Fresno Unified and city officials with a proposal for a dropout-prevention commission.

Trustee Valerie Davis said she did not support Guzman's proposal in 2009 because it came with a $100,000 price tag. Guzman, however, said the idea was shot down before any costs were discussed.

According to Guzman, the idea never took off because Hanson opposed it, and Guzman was never able to garner the board's support – including Moore, who he called asking for help.

Moore said he was unaware of Guzman's proposal more than two years ago and never received the messages Guzman said he left.

But Moore said he's ready to support Guzman's renewed efforts to create the commission. Guzman said he will have another opportunity to present his idea at the Dec. 14 school board meeting. District officials did not confirm that Guzman has been added to the agenda.

"The unfortunate thing is, we could have had a two years' head start with this," Guzman said.

Mills said Fresno Unified isn't doing enough for students who need career training. She said one solution to reducing dropouts is something she's been proposing for years – increasing career and technical education programs. That's the same solution recommended by a 2005 Fresno County Grand Jury, which said the district failed to provide vocational training to thousands of students who were not interested in college curriculum, leading to higher dropout rates.

Instead of expecting all students to take the same college preparation curriculum – such as algebra in the eighth grade – "we should be preparing everyone for a career pathway or college, whatever they choose to do," Mills said.

Mills said she hasn't had support from the rest of the board – another sign of the division that may derail efforts to develop a new dropout-prevention strategy.

But at least one trustee said it's not the board's responsibility to devise a plan to fix the dropout problem.

Davis agrees that dropouts are a "pressing problem" – but district staffers need to solve it.

"We are the policymakers," Davis said. "[The superintendent and staff] are the paid professionals. They craft the plan."