School board president challenges how rate is calculated
School board members raised a question about how graduation rates are figured even while expressing pride in Hagerstown High School’s performance.
At 98.88%, HHS showed the highest 2022 graduation rate among Wayne County schools, according to the Indiana Department of Education. Only one student who started as a freshman at the school did not graduate.
The percentage of 2023 graduates is expected to be lower because some students will receive a certificate of completion rather than a diploma.
“I’m asking, complaining publicly, some of these certificate kids count negatively toward the graduation rate. Why?” Nettle Creek School Board President Dan Davis Jr. said during the Feb. 8 board meeting.
Superintendent Emily Schaeffer said HHS is “on track to have every student who is … eligible graduate. But we will have two students who will get a certificate and count against us in graduation. … It is very deceiving. It sometimes looks like our graduation rate is dropping and it isn’t.”
Certificates of completion are awarded to students, often those in special education, who have not completed a regular high school diploma. They are awarded at commencement, just like diplomas, Schaeffer said.
Board member Shaun Lieberman wondered how people who graduate with a certificate list it on a job application or resume.
Schaeffer said the certificates recognize that students are prepared with the “social skills to be able to go into the community and be productive citizens.”
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In business, the board approved several personnel changes.
Certified staff hirings: Kendra Sanders, band director; Amy Dickerson and Brynden Alvey, both IREAD tutors.
Non-certified staff hirings: Roxane Thornburg, HHS instructional assistant; Darla Warner, substitute nurse; Brittany Thompson and Cortney Sizemore, both Hagerstown Elementary instructional assistants; Stacey Sutherland, HES custodian; James Edwards, HHS ISS supervisor; Cortney Sizemore, substitute teacher; Barbara Sullivan, long-term sub for fifth-grade math.
Resignations: Genna Rees, HHS instructional assistant; Sherri Ludwig, HES custodian; Aja Smith, HES teacher.
The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, in the Hagerstown Elementary LGI room, 299 N. Sycamore St., a week later than usual. The public may attend.