EDITORIAL: Keep graduation rate momentum going

Published 11:55 am Monday, September 24, 2018

The release this week of the latest high school graduation rates is welcome news for Baldwin County and certainly worth the local community taking notice. 

Baldwin High School continued a four-year record-setting trend, boasting a 92.3 percent graduation rate for the 2017-2018 school term. That’s better than all other area public schools and it also tops the statewide graduation rate, which sits at 81.6 percent. 

Much of the credit for this recent success is the result of the hard work and dedication of the school district’s leadership, its teachers, students and administrators. Parental involvement is certainly a factor as well. So too, is community support.

But what also should not go unnoticed is the district’s concerted effort in recent years to reach out into the community in new and untapped ways. It often takes that unconventional effort to reach those who may otherwise fall through the cracks. 

The launch of the Foothills Academy, an alternative evening school program that allows students to work more at the own pace, has enabled many to complete their high school requirements and helps others who have fallen behind catch up. Efforts by district personnel to go out into the community — to churches, civic organizations and neighborhoods — to educate parents and students on the options and resources that are available is certainly a factor as well. So too, is the promotion of the state online academy, which provides another option for students who can’t seem to find success in the traditional classroom setting.

In today’s society, it takes this kind of thinking outside the traditional box to reach students who seem unreachable.

Kudos to the Baldwin County School District for recognizing that this kind of outward thinking is what’s required. The graduation rate improvements over the last five years are proof that those efforts are working.

To further the recent successes, the local community needs take a closer look at where these high school graduates are landing post-graduation. We must also look at what the local community is offering with regard to jobs and career possibilities beyond high school and college so that we can capitalize on this momentum and build for the community’s future.

We all have a stake in this — parents, grandparents, business leaders, elected officials, retirees, those with and without school-age children — everyone is a stakeholder in local education and we need to all take notice of the performance of the local schools. As they go, so too, does the community go.

We must all remain vigilant to ensure continued progress in helping more students stay in school and on a positive pathway to adulthood.