COVID contributes to low 2020 graduation numbers

The COVID-19 pandemic was at least partly responsible for the low number of students who graduated from Sheridan High School last year.

Scott Stults, an assistant superintendent and soon to be superintendent of Sheridan County School District 2, said the 2020 graduation rate was 81 percent – and that, he added, isn’t a good number.

This year, Stults said, about 88 percent of the Sheridan High School seniors are expected to receive their diplomas on May 30. And Stults said school closures in mid-March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a factor in last year’s lower rates. He said that presented a concern for District 2 personnel.

But, Stults said, being at home and learning through a distance system, as students did last spring, can be problematic for some.

In fact, a national study released late last year indicated that school closures because of the COVID pandemic negatively affected student learning across the country.