By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
In the previous four years of data collection Great Bend High School had surpassed the state average graduation rates. USD 428 Assistant Superintendent John Popp told the Board of Education Monday the High School was below the state average in 2024, graduating 88% of their senior class. The state average was 89.5%.
Among other areas, GBHS saw a dip in graduation rates in 2024 from students with disabilities and those that qualified for free and reduced lunch.
"Poverty is a very big indicator of school performance," said Popp. "Students in poverty have a hard time making it all the way, but we're still graduating 85% or higher of students who are in poverty."
Great Bend’s graduation rate in 2023 was 92.4%.
GBHS had 15 students withdrawal from school in the 2023-2024 school year. That number was at 17 this school year.
"We have three that quit to get their GED," said Popp. "We don't know if they'll be successful at that or not. Those that quit, either with parent permission or they're 18 and decided to drop out on their own...they expressed no plans to complete their high school diploma. We had eight students that did that."
On most years, the majority of USD 428’s withdrawal numbers are 17- or 18-year-old students that decide to quit.