An ASPIRE Academy student proclaims her plans on her hat before the Minden school's graduation ceremony on June 4, 2021.
The first full school year during the coronavirus resulted in a dip in Douglas County’s graduation rate.
The district saw an 84.53 percent graduation rate for the 2020-21 school year, down from 88.91 in 2019-2020.
Douglas County opened its schools to in-person learning in September 2020 and kept them open through the school year.
The Nevada Department of Education issued graduation rates for the state on Wednesday.
Statewide, the graduation rate was 81.31 percent, down from 82.57 percent for 2019-2020.
It was the fifth year in a row that Nevada’s graduation rate exceeded 80 percent.
Superintendent Keith Lewis said there were 26 students who left the school system whose whereabouts are unknown, an increase of nine over the previous year. There was also a nine-student increase in the number who completed their senior year but didn’t meet the graduation requirements and didn’t seek to make it up over summer or as fifth-year seniors.
“These two data points lead to a higher number of seniors who are considered dropouts and is reflected in a decrease in our graduation rate,” he said.
The 18 students comprise 4.3 percent of the graduating class.
In all, 399 students graduated from Douglas schools in June 2021.
Of those, 179 received advanced diplomas, 184 got standard diplomas and there were 30 students who received college and career ready diplomas.
“Douglas High School came in around 90 percent, but we saw a drop at ASPIRE Academy and the Douglas Nevada Online graduation rate came in around 65 percent,” Lewis said.
With just one student graduating in June 2021, Esmeralda County posted a 100 percent graduation rate, the highest in the state.
Storey County had a 97.06 percent graduation rate with 33 students in its graduation class. A total of 54 students or 96.43 percent of Lincoln County’s senior class graduated. Humboldt County had 196 students graduate for 94.23 percent and Pershing County had 32 students graduate, with a rate of 94.12 percent.
“The Class of 2021 experienced several unprecedented challenges, and this cohort of students, along with our educators and families, have demonstrated resilience throughout the last two school years,” said State Superintendent Jhone Ebert.
