School district: State overcounted dropout numbers

      Fairfield Community School District administrators have appealed the Iowa Department of Education's decision to place the district on a one-year watch status for its graduation rates.

      Superintendent Steve Triplett informed the school board members during their meeting Monday that high school principal Tom Voorhees and associate principal Stacy Bandy researched the school's data and found three students who each were counted as drop-outs twice.

      As an example, Voorhees said, one student dropped out of school in ninth grade, came back to school, then dropped out again in the 10th grade. The student was counted as a drop out twice, but he should have only been counted once.

      After administrators explained what had happened, a Iowa Department of Education representative advised them to appeal the graduation rate watch-list placement because the numbers could change.

      The school district has forwarded the information to the department and is now waiting for a response.

      "We think our data keeps us off the list," said Triplett.

      The district was placed on the watch based on its 2001-2002 graduation statistics. It had a 83.13 graduation rate, but needed a 83.3 graduation rate.

      For the complete story, read the Jan. 14 Fairfield Ledger.