SALAMANCA — Graduation rates in the Salamanca City Central School District are up 14 percent, according to district data presented by Dr. Mark Beehler, assistant superintendent for academic services.
Beehler presented the recent data at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, showing the graduation rate for the 2017 graduating class is at 82 percent, a significant increase from the 68 percent of the 2016 class.
In addition, Beehler said the dropout rate across the district is down 19 percent, with only three students not graduating in 2017, down from 19 students not graduating in 2016, or 23 percent of that class.
“As of today, we just calculated the number of Regents exams that our students have passed is up 11 percent,” he said. “So that will feed into graduation rates over the next several years.”
Beehler also announced that the district has partnered with Jamestown Community College in a grant program to support students who are at risk of not graduating.
Three different districts — Salamanca, Jamestown and Dunkirk — have all partnered with JCC in a Liberty Partnership program, Beehler said, which has been funded in the amount of $2.25 million over the next five years.
“We’re looking forward to continuing the partnership we have and enhancing that with JCC,” he added.
IN OTHER NEWS, the Board of Education adopted four new district goals for the 2017-18 school year.
“We have been talking about these extensively since February,” said Robert Breidenstein, district superintendent. “I think it’s important to go over them.”
The first goal, engagement, would see the district increase the quality of district communications — digital, print and public presentations — and program opportunities to promote engagement of the employees of the district and community members in order to better prepare all constituents to support student learning.
The second goal, professional development, would see the district increase the opportunities for instructionally relevant training and professional development in order to better prepare all stakeholders — school board, administration, instructional, support staff, students and community members — to support teaching and student learning.
The third goal, student achievement and learning, would see the district ensure that all schools meet or exceed the Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES Regional average proficiency percentages for 3 through 8 ELA, math and science assessments, all Regents exams and graduation rates.
The final goal, fiscal management, would see the district develop a fiscally-sound instructional spending plan which promotes learning, engagement, student achievement, facility management and district advocacy to meet expected outcomes to support district goals.
“These are four areas that we believe are important,” Breidenstein said at a school board meeting in May when he first presented the goals to the community. “We believe these are instrumental for driving continuous improvement in the district as well as being responsive to our community’s hopes, dreams, desires and wishes.”
