Clay County Schools top of its class

Clay County schools excel in high school graduates

By Frank Bradley
Sentinel Writer

Three cheers for the Clay County school system. Once again, the county is leading the state in graduating its high school students. Only, Dare County, home of the “Lost Colony,” managed to graduate a higher percentage of its students than did Clay. The other 98 counties in the state fell somewhat behind, at least for the most recent school year.
On October 12, school board chairman Charles Lee Penland and school superintendent Scott Penland traveled to Raleigh to accept the honors for the Clay County school system.
“It was good for our school to get this kind of recognition at the state level,” Penland told the board at Monday’s regular monthly meeting.
Scott Penland elaborated saying, “This achievement was a result of a community wide effort. It started with the parents, the school bus drivers, teachers, staff and our many community organizations and volunteers.”
Clay County schools achieved an 87.6 percent graduation rate, meaning that almost nine our of every ten students who started as 9th Graders graduated from Clay County schools on time (after four years.) Those who took longer or dropped out counted against the graduation rate.
After Dare and Clay counties, the next highest county graduation rate in the state was Catawba County, which had a graduation rate of 83.8 percent. Of the counties in western North Carolina, Polk County came the closest to Clay with a 82.1 percent graduation rate.
While Dare County had the absolutely highest graduation rate with a 90.2 percent, the county also has a few advantages over Clay County in the process of producing high school graduates. The median household income in Dare is about 50 percent high than the median income in Clay County. Of the residents there over the age of 25, 89 percent of them are high school graduates, and 29 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Clay County 77 percent of those over age 25 are high school graduates and 15 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. The significance of these indicators suggest that parents in Dare County would attach greater importance to graduating its high school students, and yet we find that Clay County with these disadvantages does just about as well and better than other counties in the state.
Along with Clay County schools, 11 other school districts and 17 schools were recognized for having the highest rates of high school graduation in North Carolina at a ceremony in Raleigh. It was the second year that State Superintendent June Atkinson has held a special recognition ceremony to highlight the importance of high school graduation and the graduation success stories in North Carolina.
“North Carolina must redouble its efforts to keep students in school and on track for high school graduation,” Atkinson said. “A high school diploma is a basic accomplishment for anyone entering the workforce and an essential stepping stone to community college or university. The schools and districts we have honored show us that public schools can have high graduation rates and when they do, students are the winners.”