KIMBALL – School Superintendent Troy Unzicker was pleased to announce an increase in the Kimball School District graduation rate and a decrease in the dropout rate.

Kimball School District’s graduation rate for the 2007-2008 school year is 94.12 percent. This is up 13.67 from the previous school year and is 4.37 percent above the state average.

Kimball’s graduation rate has improved each of the past two school years after reaching a low level of 79.59 percent for the 2005-2006 term.

Fewer  Kimball students are dropping of school, as demonstrated by the lower dropout rate of 1.4 percent for 2007-2008. This is a decided improvement from the 2.88 percent dropout rate of the preceding term. It is 0.35 percent less than the state average dropout  rate.

Unzicker said, “I told you 2 1/2 years ago my goal for this district was to improve it from a very good school to one of the best in the nation. ... we have made great progress and will eventually reach that goal. Our scores are beginning to reflect the hard work we put in each and every day.

“... when we beat the state average, I can assure you we are probably well ahead of the national average as well, “ he said.

Unzicker’s statements of Jan. 30 are based on information recently released by the Nebraska State Department of Education.