Education

Schools look bad while doing good

By |

By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – On-time high school graduation rates are down in Leelanau County, but is that a bad thing? 2011 graduation statistics look worse in Leelanau County, but it’s because Suttons Bay High School has taken on at-risk students whom the district knows won’t graduate in the standard four years, said Principal Raphael Rittenhouse. He said other districts around the state try to get at-risk students to drop out before they bring down graduations statistics – before ninth grade – or send them to alternative schools for the same reason. Suttons Bay has as many online students from districts across Michigan as local in-classroom students, Rittenhouse said. Many had been turned away from other districts.