Volusia, Flagler schools improve graduation rates amid pandemic
For the first time, the Flagler County school district s graduation rate topped 90%.
The Volusia and Flagler county school districts improved their graduation rates in the school year that ended unceremoniously thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Flagler County school district s graduation rate for the 2019-2020 school year was 92.3%, topping 90% for the first time and improving almost 4 points over the previous year s 88.7%.
The Volusia County school district s graduation rate was 87.7%, improving about 3 points over the previous year s 84.5%.
Volusia County is still below the state s average of 90%, which is also an improvement of about 3 points.
2 months ago Share Fetz, who s practiced at connecting with students over a virtual platform, is now helping colleagues do so as well.
Mark Fetz, Teacher of the Year for the online learning platform iFlagler, doesn t have the opportunity to make connections with students in a physical classroom. But he s become adept at doing so in a virtual one and, as classes shifted online because of COVID-19, he s helped colleagues do the same. Whenever I see a student struggling in one of his classes and ask Mr. Fetz about it, he knows the complete back story of what is happening with the student and his entire family that is having an impact on the child’s performance in class.
Death has been a grim, constant marker of the ultimate impact of the the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The casualty count is updated daily. Nationally, the death total that approached 334,000 as New Year s week began already dwarfed the casualties of such historic events as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam War.
In Florida, the virus has accounted for the deaths of more than 21,300 Florida residents, a figure that doesn t include more than 300 non-resident deaths. In Volusia County, as of Monday, there have been 430 deaths. In Flagler County, there have been another 48.
Behind each of those numbers is a story.
Danielle Anderson, Correspondent
Third time’s the charm for Flagler Palm Coast High School junior Mervyn Gong, who received an early Christmas present with the news he’d scored a perfect 800 on his math SATs recently.
As a student in the Peter and Sue Freytag Take Stock in Children program, Gong recalled receiving a mailer for the scholarship program and signing up for it three years ago, where he was paired up with his mentor, Jason Wheeler.
“As I’ve grown to know him over the years, he’s a really great man and I’m glad to know him,” said Gong, a future chemistry major whose sights are set on the University of Florida. “Mr. Wheeler has really helped me stay focused.”