YUHSD dropout rates among ‘the best’ in Ariz.

Amid school closures, a global pandemic and remote learning, Yuma Union High School District managed to achieve a 1.35% dropout rate for the 2019-2020 academic year, ranking it among “the best in Arizona,” the district reported in a press release Wednesday.

According to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Accountability and Research team, YUHSD’s dropout rate has steadily declined for three consecutive years; 2019-2020’s achievement placed the district below the state’s average of 3.3% and the national average of 5.3%.

“I truly cannot think of a more rewarding indicator,” said YUHSD Superintendent Gina Thompson. “We certainly want it to be at zero, but keeping students in school is critical work and when we say ‘every’ student, this is what we mean. Getting to this point has been a combination of the hard work and dedication of our dropout prevention specialists, counselors, teachers and all of our stakeholders. They make an incredible difference in the lives of our students.”

According to the district, the guidance departments of all six campuses house dropout prevention specialists.

Specialists Yescina Cuming at Cibola High School, Monique Slaughter at Gila Ridge High School, Chris Reese at Kofa High School, Rigoberto Conde at San

Luis High School, Nancy Dolezal at Vista High School and Brenda Smith at Yuma High School have received national recognition for their work and have presented their “strategies and successes” in education conferences across the state, the district said.

At Yuma High specifically, dropout rates hit an “unprecedented low” last school year with a descent to 0.58% – the lowest in the district.

According to the district, though 2019-2020 was just the second time in 13 years that Yuma High’s dropouts fell below 1%, the school has made significant progress since 2010-2011, when its dropout rate reached 7.7%.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Yuma High Principal Michael Fritz. “We have a lot of at-risk students at Yuma High due to socioeconomic factors. Supporting all of our students is a ’round the clock, team effort.”

According to the district, while the dropout figures are released by ADE June 30 of each fiscal year, YUHSD’s data team has district data “regularly at-hand” for routine assessments of its schools’ progress.

“We are fortunate to have a regular feedback loop with no lagging data,” said Thompson. “Our data is current because of our teams working daily. They provide that data to our campuses and (the campuses) can immediately target at-risk students.”