BALTIMORE -- Baltimore city said it has made a dent in its efforts to reach high school dropouts.

Tim Tooten Reports

The district launched a campaign a few weeks ago to reach nearly 1,000 students whose names were missing from the rolls. So far, nearly 200 former students are back in class.

"I guess it was time for me to go back. It took me a long time. It took me two months to get in here, too," said returning student Dasha Owens.

"You need school. You aren't anything without school. It's not good. It's not cool not to have an education," said Rodney Lawson, another returning student.

Lawson and Owens said they'd run out of excuses as to why they shouldn't go back to school. Two weeks ago, the city school system started making door-to-door visits by school administrators to the homes of students who'd dropped out. Owens and Lawson were two of the many who came back.

"Somebody called my house and said he was working for Baltimore city and he had 1,000 homes to call, trying to get people back in school, and he asked if I was interested. I told him I was," Lawson said.

"North Avenue sent me a letter to go to Harbor City, so I came to Harbor City," Owens said.

Both students are back on the rolls at Harbor City. They said they did have their reasons to turn their backs on school in the first place.

"I started hanging around the wrong people. I wanted to make money, so I stopped and was selling drugs and stuff like that. Then I got locked up. I started getting those high bails and I figured it wasn't for me -- that's not where I wanted to be," Lawson said.

"I got tired of going. I don't know. I wanted to hang out and I had fun. I was 16 and it was legal for me to drop out, so I dropped out," Owens said.

Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonso said he believes even more dropouts will find their way back.

"It's so simple that it's novel, really. It just says that there are a lot of kids out there, young adults who have made bad decisions in the past who deserve a chance to reconsider," he said.

Since dropping out, both Owens and Lawson have become parent and said coming back will help them set examples for their own children. School officials said Owens needs 10 credits to graduate and Lawson needs only seven.