According to Georgia Department of Education statistics released this week, City Schools Decatur’s graduation rate for its 2015 class was 97.1 percent, third best in the state. That includes 21 of 22 students (95 percent) with disabilities graduating.
The figure is a high-water mark, at least in recent years, and compares with 89.3 percent for the 2014 class (Decatur High is the district’s only high school), including a 43 percent rate for students with disabilities. During Tuesday night’s school board meeting, outgoing member Julie Rhame said that when she joined the board in 2004 the DHS graduation rate was 77 percent.
“One thing we did, we started tracking the borderline kids early in the year,” said Noel Maloof, the school system’s Chief Operating Officer but last year’s DHS principal. “We had an outstanding graduation coach [Charlie Copp, who has since left the system], and we just monitored these students all year, making sure they got the proper academic support.”
Chickamauga City and Union County tied for the state’s highest graduation rates at 97.3 percent, while the state average is 78.8 percent.
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