Hollister High touts increased graduation rates

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Hollister High School’s graduation rates continued to trend upward in the 2022-23 school year, a result of the Board of Trustees’s decision to reduce credit requirements for the academic year. The numbers were released during a presentation at the district’s May 14 meeting, where trustees were also provided a brief report on the conceptual plan of the second high school.

According to Principal Kevin Medeiros, the school’s graduation rate for the last academic year was 93.7%, an increase of at least 1.4 percentage points over the previous four years. The school’s graduation rate is well above the state average, which ranged between 83.6% and 87% over the same period.

Principal Kevin Medeiros presents Hollister High School’s graduation rate to the board of trustees. Photo by Noe Magaña.

Assistant Superintendent Elaine Klauer told BenitoLink there were 69 students who completed the 140 credit option to graduate. Had those students not graduated, the school’s rate would have been 85.1%. 

“The Class of 2023 was the first graduating class since 2019 to not have any relief from the state of California, even though students in the Class of 2023 and 2024 still show lasting effects of school closure,” Klauer said. 

In February 2021 the board also approved reducing the credit requirement from 220 to 190 for that academic year, estimating it would help 80 students graduate. The graduation rate for that class was 92.2%. Klauer clarified the 190 credits was already in place for students in academic study and was made available to the rest of the students.

In 2018-19, the last full school year students attended in-person classroom instruction before the COVID-19 pandemic, the school’s graduation rate was 92.1%.

For the 2023 class, Medeiros noted that of the six student groups identified by the state in its performance level categories, only those with disabilities were ranked as “low,” and the rest were ranked as “high.” The state’s performance rankings range from very low to very high. 

According to the California Department of Education, 75.5% of students with disabilities  graduated in the 2022-23 school year, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year. 

According to the agenda packet, female students have higher graduation rates than male students. In the last five years, the graduation rate average for females is 94.4% compared to 90.2% for males. Over that period, the graduation rate for both student groups was above the state average. 

“I think I’m going to lead a male rebellion or revolt,” San Benito High School District trustee Juan Robledo said jokingly about increasing male graduation rates.

As part of the school’s effort to increase graduation rates, Medeiros said, Hollister High will identify incoming ninth graders who are struggling with attendance, academics or behavioral issues, in order to provide additional support.

Medeiros said the school wants to “get to them early and often and consistently to try to get them on pace from the very beginning, because as we all know, students who usually don’t graduate, it started from the very beginning.”

He added that the school will continue to offer graduation support classes, which give juniors and seniors an opportunity to recover course credits, and will push to improve attendance rates.

Designs for new high school campus

San Benito High School District Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum briefly presented a conceptual plan of the proposed high school campus on Wright Road. He called the plan “pretty close” to being finalized when asked if it was just ideas put on paper.

The district is preparing to build a second high school as Hollister High is over its 3,437-student capacity. According to the California Department of Education, it had 3,465 students in 2022-23.

“You’ll notice [the high school buildings are] configured in a much different footprint than what we have now,” Tennenbaum said. “These are called “learning community models.” They are tight, they’re compact, they’re two stories. It’s a much different feel.”

The district hosted several town halls in 2023-24 which gathered input from community members about what they wanted included in the second high school. 

The plan shows Phase I of construction includes buildings for a gym, administration, music, labs and academic villages. Phase II includes a second gym, a stadium, more labs and “academic villages.” 

“We’re doing a full campus map so we are projecting over a period of decades,” Tennenbaum said. “Why? Because we want to utilize our space well. Two, to orient the campus the way we want to orient the campus, we have to build the whole campus.”

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